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.