i’m saying nowt else…

It’s the UKScrappers Sponsors Blog Hop on the 1st November.  Come and hop with us, there will be prizes along the way.  Further details will be announced on UKScrappers on the 31st October.

sometimes we hide things

It’s not often, but when I get extremely angry I need to take it out on something, vent my frustrations.  Art journalling have saved my sanity on those occasions.  I can get down all the screaming thoughts and then, as I did on this page, cover them up.  

I opened my journal found a double page that already had a coat of gesso on it, and set about writing across it.  Seems I had a lot to say as I then turned t round and ranted back over the first layer! Eek.  I wanted some of that writing to show through on the final page so I used light layers of acrylic paint and simple shapes over it, and added dots with my favourite stencil.  I quite like the end result and I know how much better I felt for getting it all off my chest.

Thanks for stopping by!

artists in waiting…?

      

As it’s half term here I have a bunch of plans for the kids this week to keep them occupied.  At the weekend I popped into The Works and picked up a bunch of canvasses – 4 5”x7” for £1.99!  Be rude not to really. 

In a bid to be a bit more relaxed about relaxed about it (I watch them like a hawk when they paint – I hate the mess…I know worlds most messy crafter!) I even let them loose with my supplies. Yep, out came the baskets of paint dabbers and the neocolour II crayons.  Guess what somebody wants for Christmas now.  Both of the kids loved the neocolours.

 

The plan is to hang them all up on a blank wall in the kitchen and start a canvas gallery of their work.  We have some from when they were really little in nice frames.  Jamie took his inspiration from the house and below, the garden.  Rosie is more abstract in her approach, but I love them all and we had a fabulous time.  Jamie has even declared he’d like to be an artist when he grows up…  ahhh, I can live in hope!

simple sundays

 

fresh homemade bread to go with fresh homemade soup = aching arms from all that kneading and the morning in a kitchen full of fabulous smells.

birds

I had a fabulous three days on a workshop with Dina Wakely. A truly talented lady if ever there was one!  Day one we painted birds, the backgrounds were meant to be full of art journal techniques to add some interest, but in all honesty when I painted my canvas I just loved it before I got to that part, so I stopped.

So here’s my practice piece with a single bird, and below the three birds again but with some extra elements in the background.

I’m thinking I may do another canvas as I enjoyed making these so much.  Maybe I should add some into my journals.

wood mounted loveliness

   

Oh heck, all plans have gone out of the window the last couple of days due to some new goodies arriving for the shop. First of all, after what feels like a very long wait, I am sooo pleased to be stocking Stampotique Originals.

     

     

When the delivery came, Jamie and I sat and unpacked it to check everything was there.  The best part – all the ooh’s and ahhh’s from both of us! He loved the designs and has declared when he grows up he’s going to buy one of all of them.  How brilliant is that?! 
Today saw the very long awaited arrival of the new distress stains, Claudine Hellmuth’s mini Studio kits, the new Perfect Pearl mists (ooooh – such amazing colours) and the kraft and black ATC’s, No. 5 and No. 8 tags from Rangers (No.8 being the larger size).  I’m working hard to get as many of these on the website as I can, but please be patient with me as I’m off on a three day workshop from tomorrow with the amazingly talented Dina Wakley.  Super cool stuff!  I loved the workshop I did with her earlier this year and ran for my credit card when I saw she was over again teaching. 
Right, kids to get into bed, quick tidy round and then back to uploading all these new goodies. And I mist remember to take my little pocket camera with me tomorrow.
Happy creating folks!

gotta love a bit of bingo!

I say that, last time I played bingo I must have been about 10 at the local working men’s club with my Nan.  Been a while then!  I do love Bingo Cards though, from the mini Jenni Bowlin ones to freebie ones like this one.  Feel free to download it, I found it here, on a lovely blog full of stuff to download.

Enjoy!

I’m at it again

yep, cries of abandoned blog!  Sorry about that, I just seem to be busy at the moment.  Not so busy there are not enough hours in the day, but busy enough to mean that the ole blog has been ever so slightly abandoned.  Because of that I have made the decision to “abandon blog” for the shop, and just use this blog.  So, for those of you not interested in what’s happening with the shop, I apologise.  My aim is not to turn this into a blog all about the shop, but I will announce special offers and share my general excitement of new stock (finally) arriving when it does.  I just figure it will be easier to manage from one blog, with all the Facebook updates as well.

 

So, it is my great pleasure to announce that we now have gift vouchers!  yay!  You can find all the info and how to buy and spend them here.  All I’m going to mention is that you don’t have to spend them in one go either, we’ll keep track of the balance for you until you’ve used them all up.

Ok, for now I need to be getting on with life and family stuff, then a huge pile of creative books to read, and a project or two to be getting on with. 

Have a fabulous weekend where ever you are!