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.

She's finished!!

Following on from my Ten Minute Tuesday post I sat last night and worked again on my art journal page with the Teesha Moore style drawing on it and I got on a roll and got it finished. I made a paper dress for the figure and finished it off with some rub ons - I journalled on the figure and all the way round it. I stood her on a tape measure rub on and some washi tape, doodled a border round the page and added on a couple of rub on lines. I finished off the watercolour blobs with some gesso which I drew into with the end of a pencil and made into flowers after reading another tutorial on Carmen's blog by Carla Sondheim. I finished them off with centres made from dots of a posca paint pen.

The title of the page is "She didnt care if it was perfect" and the journalling around the girl reads "You need to learn to embrace that sentiment. Life isnt perfect and thats okay, its just the way it is sometimes. Your art doesnt need to be perfect either - that's okay too!!" Its a wee message that I need to say to myself more often. Like most folks I'm very critical of my own work but I actually quite like this page, its not my usual colour scheme and the figure is a bit wonky and quirky but I like her.

Ten Minute Tuesday - 6 August

Hello again.  Well.despite being off for another couple of days there hasn't been all that much in the way of.creativity going on as I'm right on the middle of a major craft room clearout.  I managed to collect a second hand expedit unit at the weekend. So after clearing a space for it, it took me, Fiona and her.boyfriend.Gary to put it all together and I've finally made enough floor and desk space to work in the room while I'm finishing it off.

Here's what Ive been working on. It's still a work in progress.  I've done it in several tem minute bursts as a reward for tidying up.   The background was based on a.piece in the acrylic solutions book on colour patching but didn't turn out anything like it was meant to lol, once it dried I stencilled on some texture paste through a stencil and left to dry. I can't draw for toffee but followed a link on Carmens blog to some arty tutorials. I liked a simple drawing one by Teesha Moore and thought If give it a go, not too bad for a first attempt I guess.  I've only started to colour her in with my coloursoft pencils but I've a way to.go yet.

The little dots are the beginnings of some abstract flowers by Carla Sondheim from another tutorial I found on Carmens blog.

Why not pop over to Vickis place to see what she's been  up to and then let us see if you  have managed to achieve something in your ten minute bursts.

52 Photos - Week One

Hi there.  When I saw this idea to post one photo a week on Jean's blog I knew I wanted to join in.  having tried and failed at a photo a day on the past (my life is just not that interesting) I think I can cope with one a week.  There's a great list on Jeans blog compiled by herself and Gail from Efemera  Ink and Gail also gives a great tutorial for an easel type album to showcase them

You can use the prompts in any order you please hit you must begin and end with a self portrait *sigh* I hate having my picture taken and I really hate trying to take one of myself bit I gamely went out to the back garden and bit the bullet, I think the sunglasses helped lol.

Rocking Your World Friday - 2 August

Hello folks and welcome along to another Rocking your world Friday post.  If you don't know what this is all about then hop over to Virginia's place and have a look.

I've had a truly wonderful week this week so without any further ado here's what I'm grateful for

A few days off work at my beloved Beadnell. A picture of the local Church St Ebbas instead of the beach for a change.

Fabulous sunshine

The whole family all together to celebrate my lovely Dads 80th birthday.  Here he is opening the fire pit we bought him and we had two great nights sat round it in the dark toasting marshmallows.  Dad wad so happy to have us all there together and the sun shone on us.

The lovely welcome when I got home from the felines Spikey Bobs and Maisie Moo

Receiving this fab book from Amazon after reading about it on Carmens blog, I love it and hope to have a try at the techniques over the weekend once I make a space at my desk.

Finding a second hand expedit unit for sale locally to me on the very weekend I'm mounting a proper clear out of my craft room.

Going into Glasgow today to meet Donna for lunch and having an mooch round the arty section in Millers.

So, all in all a good week, how was yours?