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.

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

Hello again and oh boy am I glad its Friday! Its been one of those weeks. Manically busy at work and not a heck of a lot of creating going on this week in the evenings as my brain has been worn out lol. In fact I will be playing catch up this very night with my index cards so that I can do a round up post this weekend. So without further ado what am I loving/grateful for this week then. Well firstly the fairly lovely weather continued for most of the week although it did pour down all of Saturday but I was indoors at the crop all day. Secondly, our crop in East Kilbride, this has been going now for two years and its evolved into a really friendly group and full of fabulous inspiration and I love being one of the organisers of this. We had a fab crop on Saturday with much laughter, drinking tea and eating cake, Oh and there was the odd bit of creativity thrown in for good measure!! Heres a layout I did for last weeks weekly challenge on UKS which was to use an outdoor photo, blue and stripes. This is my son Fraser, some years ago practising his golf swing on a camping weekend at Hoddom Castle in the South West of Scotland. I enjoyed doing a bit of stamping in the background for this one. (pic)

Muller Light Greek Yoghurts - I know - I have just discovered these and my daughter and I are addicted - they are heavenly - and as an added bonus the little pots they come in make great water or paint mixing pots :). Visiting friends. I drove down after work today to my friend Heather who lives in Holystone, just north of Newcastle and Lesley and Julie joined us for a bit of pre crop fum.Hopefully a weekend of cropping will mean some productivity to be blogged next week. A new haircut courtesy of my daughters lovely friend Jade, A bit shorter but I like it and and all the grey gone again yay Finally for this week, getting painty and inky - I just cant tell you how much I am loving this at the moment Sorry for the lack of piccies but I'm blogging on my phone away from home Have a fabulous weekend and I will see you back here next Friday. Why dont you pop over to Virginia's and join the rockettes each Friday.

Arty CJ Catch Up

Hello, hello. Two cj entries from me today. The first was for my Mojo Busters 3 cj on UK Scrappers. This was for the gorgeously talented Rebecca's cj which made me nervous before I even got started. Rebecca's subject is New Year to be interpteted in any way we wanted. I'm not really a lover of New Year, I know, I know, being Scottish you would think I would be, but there you go. I was a bit stumped to be honest and the cj was all in Gorgeous vintagey Tim Holtz style and I had nothing which really matched that. Then Rebecca said try something art journally so I did and this is what evolved. The little booklet on the left hand side opens up to explain New Year,New Art Journey and the wee flap in the middle has my sign in details on it. The stamp on the right hand side is a saying by Helen Keller and reads "The best, most beautiful things can not be seen or even touched they must be felt with the heart". I love the colours but when it's in with the other pages it does stick out a bit like a sore thumb. I just hope Rebecca likes it

The second is for my team cj. Im proud to be a member of the fabulous Rik Rak Ravers on U K Scrappers and for our first sj we are just passing round pages which cuts down on cost. This month I had Julieanns to do and her theme is Change, and my pages morphed into something much brighter than my usual. I think the recent week of sunshine here in Scotland has definately gone to my head. This one had lots of layers of Gesso, washi tape, paint and was inked and sprayed on and also through stencils. The quote on the left hand side says "Things do not Change We Change". I made a pocket on the right hand side and decorated with a doily and a flower made from the tattered florals die using a previously made background and some vintage book pages. I popped my tag in with my journalling on. Julieann has received the pages and says she likes them so that was a "phew" moment!

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there and welcome to another Ten Minute Tuesday post What a glorious sunny week it's been here in my part of Scotland and what a difference that makes to my energy levels and desire to craft. Well what have I managed in my ten minute bursts this week then. I had already started the background for these pages in my wee A6 seaside journal but I finished off by pressing on some pink dylusions ink which was left on stencil, stamping some teal dots with a Bo Bunny background stamp (these are fab quality stamps and stamp really well) and pressing some white paint through a circle stencil. I then cut out a wee beach hut and stamped on using another one of the Bo Bunny background stamps (weather wood one). I stuck it to the page with gel medium and doodled round it with a pit pen. I cut the patterned semi circle pieces from the cover of a clothing catalogue - the fab pattens on them reminded me of the spirograph set I had when I was young. I gessoed over a turqouise section on the left hand side. The journalling is on the left hand page, the little beach hut and round each of the semi circles but all together it reads "Wouldnt it be just perfect to sit in a little beach hut and watch the waves, What would be my fantasy home, well strangely not something very grand, something very simple would do me" and I finished with the words on the beach hut "A little Beach Hut by the sea ..just for me" Why dont you pop over to Vickis blog The Biskit Barrel and see what she's been up to this week

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hi and thanks for coming along to see what Ive managed to get up to in my ten minute creative bursts this week

Well here is s very quick page I have started.  I punched out several small butterflies and laid them out on my page.  I then sprayed over London blue and dirty martini Dylusions ink but the colours seem to have merged too much and the whole page ended up green, I need to practise with these inks as I have very hit and miss results with them.

When the inks were dry I lifted off the butterfly punch outs and coloured in the butterflies with inktense pencils which Ingham went over with a wet brush. When the ink dried I doodled a bit on my butterflies I really need to practise a bit with these pencils bit when wet the colours are really intense.

I still need to put my quote on this page but it needs something else as well  but I'm not sure what, so any ideas would be welcomed.

Why not hop over to Vicki's place and see what she's been up to and join in.  Its amazing what you can achieve when you only have ten minutes spare.  Even if you are only making a background, putting the finishing touches to a project or starting off a quick card, its a wonderful way to fill a ten minute gap in your day.

Ten Minute Tuesday

Firstly if you have arrived here looking for my blog hop, to celebrate my fabby new look blog,   then fret not - its still ongoing - just flick down to the previous post . The draw for my prize isnt being drawn till the end of the week :)

For now though I'm joining in again with Vicki's Ten Minute Tuesday. 

Her idea is that you somehow or other shoehorn a quick ten minute session to get all creative somewhere in your busy schedule. I just love the idea and am pinching myself ten minute sessions as and when I can during the week around work.

I'm still on a mission to get some backgrounds on the go for my various art journals in the hope that when I hotfoot it off to Beadnell for the holiday weekend I can sit in the sun outside the caravan finishing off some pages with just a box of very limited supplies (yes, yes, I am aware that the chances of sitting outside in the sun, in Northumberland, on a Bank holiday are pretty slim, but a girl can hope!!)

Heres the latest batch done in my ten minute slots, I just grabbed a couple of stencils and some ink sprays and sprayed on some of the  pages quickly and  without really giving much thought to what I was doing.  Its quite liberating and very unlike me to do this but now I will need to give some thought to the finishing off lol.

Hopefully next week I might have a finished page or two to show you following my wee break

Thanks for looking and in the meantime hop over to Vicki's place to see what she's been up too

Ten Minute Tuesday

I must admit I'm really liking this idea of Vicki's to grab ten minutes of creative play time and I find I have been doing a bit more that I usually would.  Its so much easier to sneak in a quick ten minutes or so into your schedule and even if you are only laying down the foundations of a project or putting on the finishing touches to one, its a great aid to actually getting things done and I find I am sneaking in quite a few of these 10 minutes sessions during the week. 

I am off to the caravan at Beadnell for the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of the month but as my parents will be there, there just wont be the space to take my usual bag stuffed full of crafting stuff so I am trying to prepare as many background pages in my various journals as I can in the hope that I can take them with me along with a limited amount of supplies - preferably non messy ones lol - and maybe manage to do a wee bit of work in them while I'm having some chill out time.  I have visions of me sitting outside in the sunshine,glass of chilled rose by my side and journalling away soaking up the lovely weather when in reality looking at the way the weather is just now I will be sitting inside freezing in front of the fire while the rain pours down round about me lol.  What on earth has happened to Spring this year.

Any hints actually as to what would make a good "on the go travel kit" for art journalling would be much appreciated then I can maybe have a wee kit all ready to grab whenever I am away from my main supplies.

Hop on over to Vicki's blog The Biskit Barrel  To see what she did with her ten minute playtime this week  (Edited to add that Vicki hasnt posted her Ten Minute Tuesday post as yet but do have a look at her lovely blog anyway as there is loads of lovely inspiration on there )

Here's what I got up to I made a double spread background in my dinky wee A6 journal.  I scribbled with necolours and wiped over them with a baby wipe and left to dry.  I scribbled some circles again with neocolours and outlined them with my new inktense pencils (which I am still trying to get the hang of) and then went over them delicately with a waterbrush.  I then thought Id see if I could get the inktense pencils to drip down the page when wet by scribbling at the top adding water and tipping the book up.  Didnt work too well so I think I will finish off the drips with some ink spray.

What will you achieve with your ten minutes this week

Ten Minute Tuesday

I'm joining in again this week with Vickis Ten Minute Tuesday challenge.  Hop over to her blog The Biskit Barrel and take a look

I was in the mood for a bit of a painty play so had a session of making another page in my wee A6 seaside journal.  I'm loving this small size as it makes it easier to complete a page when you are short in time.  I already had a base layer of of paint on the pages so I  started with a circle template and a tile one adding some white paint in the corners.

 I stamped  a couple of background stamps with stazon ink , then stamped three white painty circles with a bottle lid and outlined them in black paint.  I then painted on the heart using a home made mask.  I wanted a thick layer of paint so that I could heat with a heat gun so it by bubbled up and gave some texture to the page. I added a few wee lines made with the edge of a credit card and then I stamped  and cut out the words "I live in East Kilbride but "then I journalled around the heart with the rest of the phrase which reads "my heart lies in Beadnell.down by the harbour overlooking the bay"

I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  What will you do with your ten minutes this week?

Art Journal Calendar Challenge - May

Here's my finished April pages.  Blimey it was a vibrant month colour wise with this page, almost needed my sunglasses when I was filling in my info.  I'm going to try to draw/doodle a bit more going forward as my pages are looking a touch boring with just the writing and a lot of them have the same old, same old another day at work type of thing.  Maybe I need a more interesting life lol.

It did make my friend Dee laugh though when she read out my entry for one of the Friday's where after a long week at work I wrote "Oh Friday how Ive missed you!"


Remarkably I'm on time this month with my May pages,   When I was away at Lochhouse in April with my friends for our weekend retreat I made sure to have time to do my May pages.  I really like the way they turned out but unfortunately once I put on the date squares most of the detail was covered over which is a pity. I do think they need a bit more tweaking or doodling in the visible areas but maybe I will just add wee bits in here and there  as Im filling out the squares each day.

I seem to be going all pink at the moment which isn't like me at all! I drew the houses following watching how Kate did it on her dvd.  I love them and can see them making an appearance on quite a few of my art journally bits.  I used text paper taken from a vintage charity shop find.  I figure it's ok to rip up books once they have been well read and if the proceeds are going to help a worthwhile cause then so much the better!

I am really enjoying joining in with Kate's challenge so far, hop over to her blog The Kathryn Wheel to see what its all about and join in - you will soon be hooked!
I used stripey thickers for the title this month instead of stamping the month for a wee change as I thought they went with my page.
This is a great challenge to be part of and Im really enjoying joining in with it.

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

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