Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello again folks.  Its Tuesday again and time for Vicki's Ten Minute Tuesday.  Im not sure if she is going to manage to post due to her kiddies being on their school hols but its worth hopping over to her blog for a wee look.

So Ive been off work and hoping for some more creative time.  I haven't  managed much so far as I've been down at Beadnell  in Northumberland and we had a hectic but happy time celebrating both my Dad's 80th and my Son''s 22nd birthdays.

I did manage to sit in the sun for a while one afternoon and made a start to the "Intentions Page" in my Art, Doodle, Love book (did I mention I lurve this lol). I think I ve converted a couple of scrappy friends to it too so thats all to the good.

The page is not finished yet but its getting there.  Some of the writing - my intentions - are - to make great art, just for me, to doodle without over-thinking, improve my lettering, learn to love what I produce and to have confidence in my abilities. 

Why not let us see what you have managed in your ten minute bursts of creativity this week

Rocking your World Friday - 26 July

Hello and Happy Friday to you all.

A much more positive post from me this week - Im sure you will be glad to see that. Last week was just one of those weeks for me but I was still determined to join in.  I guess sometimes you do need to take the rough with the smooth.   Not as many photos as I would have liked though as Im blogging from my phone which isnt a problem in itself but the signal is poor and its very hard trying to get photos to load over it.

So lets get down to it.  What rocked my world this week.

Firstly - my local crop -  I co run this along with Audrey and they really are the lovliest, friendliest and maddest bunch of crafters you could hope to meet.  A days cropping with them never fails to cheer me up.
I even managed a bit of creativity - Yay! It felt good after a week of producing nothing at all.  No pictures though as I havent actually managed to finish any of the things I started yet!!  It was good to see Donna again all refreshed after her holiday to the USA and I really must thank her for the teeny wee wooden alpha stamps and lovely journal cards and little patterned glassine bags she brought me back.  The stamps are pefect for my art journal and I cant wait to use the envelopes and cards on a layout.

Then on Sunday we were distraught as Maisie Moo, my daughters kitten managed somehow to get out of the house and was missing for around five hours!!!! We were in a right old panic when we discovered this and when we set off along the street to search for her it was not at all helpful when the first thing we saw was a fox!!!! just two doors along strutting up and down like he owned the place  We were sure then that we would never see Maisie again but just after we had given up searching and come inside to post pics of her on facebook I noticed a movement at the lounge window and there was the little minx up on the outside sill begging to come in.

Finishing work on Thursday for a wee break!! Im not back in the office until Tuesday 6 August. Its a fab feeling. Yay!!

Beadnell - yes I'm back here again - my favourite corner of the world and how lovely this time to be here not only with my parents but I will be joined later on today by  my lovely son Fraser and his girlfriend Emma and my gorgeous daughter Fiona and her boyfriend Gary.  Its a long time since we were all here together and Im really looking forward to it.

But the main thing Im grateful for this week,  and the reason we are all at Beadnell together is that today my lovely Dad is 80 and along with all their caravan friends we are having a birthday bbq.  In case you didn't know about eighteen months ago my Dad was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and in that short time we can see him failing which is incredibly sad.  Most of the time he is his lovely self but when he is not it gives a glimpse of how the future might be.  He has been looking forward for weeks to us all being there with him (I will post up some pics of his birthday celebrations next week)

Im here for another few days then Im heading home because once and for all I need to get a grip on the ever increasing mess that is my craft room.  So instead of chilling out down here Im biting the bullet and having a few days off at home (which I dont usually like to do) to sort things out in the hope that once its tidied and semi organised so that I can find things I might feel more like sitting in there doing a bit of creating,  So Im hopeful it will be worth it in the end

And finally I receive this very lovely kit in the.post.this week from Sue.  I won this as a prize.on ber lovely blog and I can't wait to.use it.

If you want to know what this is all about then hop over to Virginia's place and join in.  Due to very limited signal here I might not get round to comment on your blogs till I get back home but I will try my best.

Till next week.

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there.  Last week I just ran out of time to post my Ten Minute Tuesday post.  It was just one of those weeks! and this week isn't looking any better at the moment.  Roll on Thursday at 5pm as I finish work then until 5 August.  Thank heavens!  Im hoping for great things - some relaxation, some sorting out, throwing out, tidying up and of course some more creative time so watch this space.

I recently bought Art, Doodle, Love which I absolutely love and although I havent started doodling on any of the prompts yet I did decide to make a start on one of the title pages as it wasnt as daunting as a full blank page.  Here's what I achieved so far with a PITT pen and my coloursoft pencils which I am beginning to fall in love with as they are just so easy to colour with.  Its very theraputic and great fun and is being packed away into my bag to take with me to the caravan so hopefully I will have more to show after next week.

Hop over to Vicki's blog to see what Ten Minute Tuesday is all about ( I know her kids are off school so it may be that she doesnt have a post up - but scroll back and have a look at her previous posts)

inky, painty capers

Hello there. Boy has it been a hot weekend.  It was a pleasure to sit in a cool hall for most of the day yesterday at the crop.

I didn't achieve much but I was pleased with this journal page which I shamelessly lifted from Rosies wonderful Blog  I love her pages but dont have the confidence mine would be any good so.I thought if I.lifted one of hers it woukdt give me the confidnce to try one of my own next time.Background is neocolour 2s.  I love these and need to build up my tiny wee selection.  I wrote my wording, I so need more practise then drew on the shapes and doodled in them.  It's no where like the standard of Rosies but it's a start and I like it.

Rocking Your World Friday - 19 July

Hello folks.  Well its Friday again so it must be time to join in with Virginias Rocking your World.  Hop over to her fab blog here and join in with all the other rockettes.

So whats rocked my world this week.  Well truly - do you want to know - not a lot really.  I know last week I said doing this made me look for the positives but since Sunday I have had a whole lot of not very nice negative feelings and I cant really put my finger on why exactly.  I think it is a combination of having to work while its so very hot in the office and then coming home feeling quite worn out and not then having the energy to be creative which in turn makes me sad, but even if I have nothing creative to report then surely I can find something to be grateful for this last week

So here goes.  Well despite it sapping my energy somewhat after a full on day at work I am grateful really that the weather is still staying nice.

Despite it having been a very busy and manic week I am truly grateful that I have a job and also truly grateful that I am part of a great and very supportive team at work.

I am very grateful as ever for my lovely friends both irl and online ones.  In all honesty its them who bolster me up and keep me going when things get tough.

Being sent two lovely messages from both Lesley and Dee in response to them receiving out of the blue a little piece of mail art from me - that really made me feel better to know that in some way something I had made and popped in the post made someones day.  Did I take a picture of them before I posted them - well no - that would have been too sensible lol.

And finally I am soo grateful its Friday and I have our crop tomorrow so I am determined to create something come what may so watch this space.

Apologies for the lack of cheer and lack of photographs this week, I just didnt seem to find anything worth taking a photo of.  I did consider not joining in until I felt a bit more positive but its become my Friday routine now


I will leave you with a photo of a layout I did for a weekly challenge on UK Scrappers the other week.  Maggie had challenged us to use the sketch she provided along with the colour scheme she chose and also use a phrase/mantra or saying that we use when times are tough.  Well as I had just returned from my birthday trip to Beadnell I decided to use a photo I took on my birthday of my sandy toes.  As I am a by the sea type of gal during the winter months I long to be by the beach and one of my favourite quotes is the one I used on this layout "A little sand between your toes always takes away your woes".

I have a glass vase in my bathroom half filled with sand and topped up with seaglass (no prizes for guessing where the blog name came from) and sometimes on dark miserable winter days I tip out the seaglass so that I can run my fingers through the sand to give me my beach fix.

See you next Friday with a much more positive post as I shall hopefully be blogging from Beadnell

Inky Garden Fun

Hello folks another glorious day.  It's the local Glasgow Fair holiday weekend here and also T in the Park and it's almost unheard of for it not to be raining.

I gathered up a few arty supplies and spent the afternoon sitting outside happily getting inky and painty.  It's so blissful to sit in the sunshine creating a page.

The background to this double spread was painted up with some leftover green and blue paint left over from another page. I then sprayed lime green and London blue Dylusions inks through a few stencils and did some background stamping. I also used cherry pie Dylusions and some red stamping for a contrast

The photos were taken at two of our recent crafty weekends away at Lochhouse Farm near Moffat and are my best bunch of crafty pals.

I think they need something else to finish them off bit I'm not sure what.  Am hoping to get a bit of scrapping done tomorrow before it gets too hot

Rocking your World Friday - 12 July

Hello folks. Friday again and time to join in with Virginia in counting our blessings for the last week. Ive been joining in with this for only four or five weeks so far but already I feel the benefit.

All to often I'm very prone to seeing the negative side of things and having to stop each week and think about your blessings and what you are grateful for really helps to show you the positives in life.

So first up Im grateful for stumbling over Virginia's blog and joining in with this. I now feel a part of a blogging community and have discovered so many lovely folks and lovely blogs packed full of inspiring projects.

Andy Murray, what can I say, the boy from Dunblane did it!!!

Im still grateful for the lovely sunny weather -despite being stuck in the office five days of the week. Its still lovely to travel to and from work in the sunshine and to sit outside in the garden in the evenings doodling away in peace

These two beauties which arrived this week which I bought with some of the money my parents gave me for my birthday Pic) I am loving the art doodle love book. My doodling skills and imagination for what to doodle are very limited at the moment but I think this wee book is going to help with that and its been very theraputic just whiling away an hour or so happily doodling with no particular purpose. The Dina Wakely book is just brilliant. I love all of her examples and the book is very interesting and full of great design tips. Its by my bedside so I can have a quick flick through it each night .

Eating a bit healthier - look at these beauties here - we have been munching on delicious berries all week and I have to say between eating a wee bit healthier than I usually do and and the lovely sunshine I am feeling much better and have a bit more energy that I usually do.

Thats it from me this week. Hop over to Viriginia's to see what all the rockettes have been up to this week and I will hopefully see you back here next Friday

Questions, Questions, Questions

Just spotted this little question and answer on Vickis blog. I thought it was thought provoking and I decided to squeeze in a little post before Rocking your World Friday. 1. Where is your cell/mobile phone? Desk. 2. Your hair? shortish. 3. Your mother? Irreplaceable. 4. Your father? The best. 5. Your favourite food? Strawberries(at the moment). 6. Your dream last night? None. 7. Your favourite drink? Wine. 8. Your dream/goal? Balance(in life). 9. What room are you in? office. 10. Your hobby? creating. 11. Your fear? old age. 12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? seaside. 13.Where were you last night? garden. 14. Something that you aren’t? confident. 15. Muffins? Blueberry. 16. Wish list item? beach. 17. Where did you grow up? Scotland. 18. Last thing you did? emailed. 19. What are you wearing? Black. 20. Your TV? old. 21. Your pet? adorable. 22. Friends? My rock (they know who they are, my LH girlies). 23. Your life? okay. 24. Your mood? cheerful. 25. Missing someone? Yes. 26. Vehicle? ancient. 27. Something you’re not wearing? skirt. 28. Your favourite store? Craft. 29. Your favourite colour? turquoise. 30. When was the last time you laughed? today. 31. Last time you cried? Sunday (andy Murray). 32. Your best friend? Heather. 33. One place that you go to over and over? Work. 34. One person who emails you regularly? Mo (my boss). 35. Favourite place to eat? Deli 108. I'd love it if you would let me see your list. I give up anyone know why even though this is formatted as a list in the draft post it loses the formatting when I publish! Fancy smancy phone my big butt!

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello again, my, my don't Tuesdays come round very quickly and isnt this gorgeous sunny weather just fab. What a pity Im stuck in work all week :( Time to join in again with Vicki's Ten Minute Tuesday. Hop over to her blog to see what its all about. I'm sure she would be delighted to have some more of you joining in rather than her just having my boring old entry every week lol. So what have I managed in ten minute bursts between being enthralled with the tennis this week then. Well when I saw Karen had put up a mail art trail on UK Scrappers I couldnt resist joining in. Its something I havent tried before and I fancied dipping my toe in. You put your name on the list then make some mail art for the person above and the person below you. This time round Im making for Gill and Karen. Here's the postcards I have done for them, I really hope this is the sort of thing you are meant to do. The backgrounds were done by spraying card with water then liberally spraying on dylusions ink sprays in cherry pie, bubblegum pink, pure sunshine and lemon zest. I then did some background stamping using a Tim Holtz script stamp and some Bo Bunny background stamps using stayzon inks in red, yellow and orange. I coloured in the stamped Octopode Factory image with my new coloursoft pencils, I love these and definately need to build up my collection as I only have a dozen colours so far. Then I added some painty stamping with bottle tops and making some painty lines with the edge of an old gift card. I finished off with the stamped sentiment from Tim Holtz. These are now winging their way to the recipients in the post and I just hope they like them. Sorry for the photograph but the bright sunlight isnt doing the colours any favours. IRL its much more vibrant *sigh*

Art Journal CJ

I received Helens fab "Anything goes" art journal cj this month in our Mojo Busters 3 circle journal. Helen is allowing us to do whatever takes our fancy in this and there are just some fab pages in there already. I sat out in the garden in the sunshine on Saturday and did my entry - it was just glorious sitting in the sunshine and dabbling with my ink sprays - a lovely way to spend an afternoon I sprayed the pages with water then sprayed on some dylusions inks in london blue, cut grass and lemon zest. I then sprayed through two stencils - a script one and a fab new tie dye one (I love the effect of this one) with cherry pie and london blue dylusions sprays. I then used the cut out piece from the Tim Holtz tatterned florals die (thank you Donna for that fab idea) and sponged paint through. Once that was dry I doodled around the flowers with black and white pen and finished the page off by stamping the Tim Holtz Quote "Wishes are the magic in our heart that casuse beautiful things to happen. I drew round the heart with white paint and highlighted some bits of the initial word. I was quite pleased with the way it turned out and just hope Helen likes it when she gets it home.

Rocking Your World Friday - 5 July

Hello and Happy Friday to you all. Here we are again at the end of another working week and after my lovely break last week it feels like its been a long hard slog this week lol. However what has been rocking my world this week. Firstly the lovely welcome home I got after having been away for almost a week from these wee guys - I dont think they have featured on the blog before so let me introduce you to the great big cuddly bundle of fur that is my boy Spike. He's a wee darling. He was adopted by a friend of mine after being mistreated and put out on the streets but she already had a whole bunch of cats and they didnt take to him so we took the plunge and he came to live with us. He was the most timid and scared boy when he came to us but we won him round bit by bit and he really is the biggest softie you could imagine.

and secondly this little bundle of mischief - let me introduct you to Maisie Lou, my daughter Fiona's kitten, or as we tend to call her Maisie Moo, cos she really can be a little moo at times lol. She's just over a year old and we have had her since she was very young. We got her from my boss who also has her Mother, Grandmother and until she was killed in a road accident last month her Great Grandmother. She has the cutest wee face but is the biggest bundle of mischief you can imagine but her exploits never fail to cheer us up.

What else then. Andy Murray - yay! watching his Wimbledon quarter final - nerve wracking but so good when he made it to the semis. Best of luck Andy for today's match. Cropping with friends - Aud and I went to another local crop on Saturday - they only have limited table spaces and its not often theres spaces and we can manage to go. It made a lovely change just plonking ourselves down and chatting, drinking tea and doing a bit of creating without bobbing up and down checking everyone was okay like we do at our own crop which we both run. A bit of creativity even took place - I know! Shocking Lovely Sunday evenings with my Mum and Dad - I cherish being able to just walk the short distance to their house to spend some time with them. Finally, and I couldn't resist this look what I found in my bag of carrots this week lol, well it made Fi and I laugh

So thats been my week. Why dont you pop over to Virginia's blog to see what its all about See you next Friday

2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt - June

Ooops Im a little late - I seem to have left a couple of posts which should have been published in June till now to post but as its only the first couple of days of the month thats okay I guess Im joining in with this summertime photography scavenger hunt for the first time this year after seeing various bloggers I follow posting about it. If you want to know what its all about then hop over to Rhindas blog to see what its all about. It looks a whole lot of fun and theres a list of 21 things to be found and photographed before the 21st of September. I will be interested to see just how many I can manage. Okay well as I was late to the party as usual I only have two so far for June. #A Bench that is outside

This one I have sat on often and what a magnificent setting for a bench with a view of the majestic Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland and the glorious sandy beach and sea stretching out for miles. A lovely place to sit and dream on a lovely day lost in your own thoughts. #13 A fence

On the other side of the Castle funnily enough between Seahouses and Bamburgh. I stopped to snap a picture of all the beautfiul poppies when I realised there was a fence there List is carefully printed off and in my purse now so that I can consult it when I am out and about. Hopefully I manage to score a few off the list in July

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello again and welcome to another Ten Minute Tuesday. If you dont know what this is all about then please do hop over to Vicki's lovely blog The Biskit Barrel and have a look. I'm sure she would just love you to join in with her. Well what have I managed on the creative front this week. I was at a crop on Saturday and after finding a quote I liked managed to finish off this double page spread in my wee A6 seaside journal. (

I did the background back in April when I was at Lochhouse in Moffat with my friends. I used Donn's distress stains for this - salty ocean and picket fence. Then the background lay unloved in my journal until I was down at my friend Heathers the weekend before last when I firstly used some dylusions ink which was left over from a stencil on another page and I painted some perfect pearls in amongst it. I then stenciled some small circles on the bottom to look like bubbles coming up from the bottom of the sea and used a stamp from my friend Julie which was perfect for that seaweed look. I painted in among that with some perfect pearls too. I then stamped on the dotty mermaid (Clarity stamps) and again painted her with some perfect pearls. I couldnt find a quote I liked for the page till Audrey suggested the Pablo Neruda poem The Mermaid and the Drunks and I used some of the lines from that which read "Her eyes were the colour of distant love, ther twin arms were made of white topaz. Her lips moved, silent in a coral lightHer lips moved, silent, in a coral light. I used my a mixture of inktense pencils and my new coloursoft pencils to colour in some of the letters. Ooh I do like those coloursoft pencils and can see me needing to get some more. After three different wee sessions working on this page Im not convinced its finished yet as its a bit bare at the top so I might have another go with it soon. Hop over to Vicki's now to see what she's done with her creative time this week.