Lazy pages

I’m fast coming a fan of lazy pages in my art journals.  By that I means ones that take very little doing but I find myself going back again and again to look at them.

This one is from my Florida journal.  The background is super simple – it’s a mop up from another stencil spraying session with a few extra spots on top. The flower centres are made from off cuts of sticky-back canvas that had been sprayed with color wash.  I simple cut them out and plopped them on the page without thinking. See lazy as can be.

The leaves, grass and doodles around the flowers (not that I knew that’s what they’d be when I stuck the circles in) were all drawn with water-soluble pencils and coloured with inktense pencils.  Add journalling and ta-dah.  Finished.  Took me all of ten minutes to drag this one together, but I love it.  Guess that’s what counts in the end.

Right, I’m now off for a lazy dinner.  The man of the house has been slaving over an Indian (meal not person – should you be wondering…) for a couple of hours and I am about to devour it.  Delicious and lazy, for me anyway, not for him though.

still alive…..just

Hello, hello.  Just wanted to let you know that we survived Orlando, the parks, food, heat and the most stunning thunderstorms I’ve ever witnessed.  Since we got back I’ve been silly busy with the shop…buckets full of new stock has arrived (in boxes not buckets though ‘cause that would just be silly) and I’m working hard to get it all up loaded.

Whilst away I managed to mumble into 13 pages of my journal and I will share them with you just as soon as I get round to taking pictures of them. I haven’t even viewed our holiday snaps yet! I do at least know where the camera is since unpacking….a week ago. 

Still kids are back at school this week and Rosie finally starts school – hurrah! I’ll miss her company during the day but not her trail of destruction. This means I should get chance to get crafty – once I’ve done all my jobs that is.

Popping off again now – nice to ‘see’ you all again though.  Be back soon…ish.  Promise.

It seems I’m taking some time off…..

Oh blimey, I came to my blog to have a catch up hopping session and noticed that it’s been a month since I last posted.  Eeek, sorry folks.  Life seems to have taken me elsewhere and now I’m about to go on a much needed holiday.   Normal service…ish, should resume in September.   If nothing else I’ll have a heck of a lot of scrapping to do from the holiday.

However, you may be interested to know that the shop will remain open while we are away. Any orders placed between 09:00 Friday 12th August & 21:00 Sunday 28th August will get an extra something in your parcel if you spend over £25.00.

Orders placed after 09:00 on Friday will be posted out from Tuesday 30th August.

See you on September!

journal on your doodles

After all that doodling, I’ve now written on it and for me, it just brings the page to life.  Thought you might like to see what it looks like, and thank you for all your comments on this page from the previous post.  It’s nice to know you like it.

I’ve got a couple of watercolour backgrounds drying at the moment so fingers crossed over the next few days I’ll have more pages to share.

doodling days

You just can’t beat a day of doodling and colouring in can you.

We’re live!!!

a sprinkle of imagination is now up and running!

Come visit us!

Sharing…

 

A little while ago, no strike that, quite a while ago, I said I’d share a page and how I had created it.  I meant it, it’s just taken me a while as when I start working in my journals I don’t really think about what I’m doing, the page just evolves and then it’s too late to take photo’s to share with you as a step by step.  I guess I just work like someone possessed, or as my lot would say I’ve gone off being all arty farty. Nice huh! Grain of truth in it though.

With the exception of the stamps which are part of my own stash, all the products I’ve used are available in the store (yep – still waiting for images…sheesh but I have been assured that they are on their way on disc)

I started with watered down Claudine Hellmuth  Studio paint dribbled across the page and then the excess on the brush wiped off on it.  Then I’ve added torn pieces of book pages and added a little more colour to them with paint which I’ve then wiped off with a paper towel.

The second layer has been created using Prima and Crafters workshop masks and templates with colour wash ink sprays.  The Stars have been cut from papers in my scraps pile, the coloured and doodled with Derwent Inktense pencils.

A little more doodling around the Prima mask with inktense pencils.  The added extra black dots using the template and a black posca paint pen.

Finally, using one of my own stamps, I’ve added my favourite image and some more scraps of paper where I decided to add my journalling to the page.  Don’t know what you think but I love this page and fingers crossed you’ve enjoyed seeing my step by step. 

Right – postie has just been and there are two disks in the post that hold the promise of images for the store….. eeek, So excited. Wish me luck – again!

Home is where the heart is….

 

I’ve spent time today avoiding doing things, things in this case being housework.  After spending the last few days running round I thought I deserved a little time for me.  I’m so exhausted at the moment waiting to open up the store (delay is now down to images – or rather lack of! Seriously I wish these people would pull their bloody fingers out!), clothes shopping for the kids who are never happy, or trying to organise our lives.  I feel like I’m living in a state of distraction at the moment.  One reason may be down to Chris being away again.  I miss him so much when he’s not here. When he’s not here my frustration over the store seems to want to explode, he is keeping me sane right now.

So, I sat down while the kids have been playing a Lego game on the Xbox and played in my lovely and quickly filling up A4 watercolour moleskine.  I adore this journal (yes – there are some for the shop), and created this page in it.

That’s it for now.  Thank you for stopping by and wish me luck in getting those blooming images so we can open up!

Simple Things

A couple of nights ago I caught Poor Kids on BBC.  I didn’t see the start of the programme and it was on quite late at 23:05, but I was so moved by what I saw in the programme I stayed up to watch it.  I felt it was my duty to be informed.  After all if you don’t know about something you can’t do anything about it.

The documentary tells the stories of some of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. 3.5 million.

It is one of the worst child poverty rates in the industrialised world, and successive governments continue to struggle to bring it into line. So who are these children, and where are they living? Under-represented, under-nourished and often under the radar, 3.5 million children should be given a voice. And this powerful film does just that.

Eight-year-old Courtney, 10-year-old Paige and 11-year-old Sam live in different parts of the UK. Breathtakingly honest and eloquent, they give testament to how having no money affects their lives: lack of food, being bullied and having nowhere to play. The children might be indignant about their situation now, but this may not be enough to help them. Their thoughts on their futures are sobering.
Sam's 16-year-old sister Kayleigh puts it all into context, as she tells how the effects of poverty led her to take extreme measures to try and escape it all.

Poor Kids puts the children on centre stage, and they command it with honesty and directness. It's time for everyone to listen.

Watching the programme has made me aware of how grateful I am for the life I have.  We are by no means rich, but we can afford for me to be a full time Mum without the need to claim benefits.  Jamie is 6 soon and has asked for a Nintendo DS for his birthday, and you know what – he’ll get one.  He won’t get much more, but he’ll get one.  We have no debts, own our luxury cars, and go on holiday. We realise how fortunate we are and we are careful with our finances so that we can live the life we have without worry of where the next meal is coming from or how we’ll pay the fuel bills.  There is something we can cut back on if we need to.

My parents weren’t cash rich, but I never missed meals, always had clothes that fit me. I was bullied at school, had cruel friends at times in my life, but I was never bullied because of the clothes I wore.

We give generously to things like Comic Relief and Children in Need but somehow that just doesn’t feel enough anymore. We donate physical things for children whose Mothers are victims of domestic abuse and find themselves in the many Women's Refuges around York, often with just the clothes on their backs, but I need to find a new way to help to do something about the children living in poverty right here in my area.  I don’t live in a bubble, never have done, but I feel the need to actively seek a way to help a family who just need the simple things to improve their quality of life.  

Will you join me?

Is it nearly bedtime?

Yesterday I planned to spend a good chunk of today at my desk being crafty.  All plans changed when Rosie woke up early hours complaining of tummy ache, then she called out about an hour later having been sick in bed.  Poor lamb has hardly eaten anything today and has had a lazy, half asleep day curled up under a blanket on the sofa rather than running round like a loon at pre-school.  She’s a lot better this evening but it did curb my crafty time quite considerably.

Having spent half the night either with her or listening out for her I’m more than ready for bed right now, but not before I share a quick shot of something I did start working on today.



Ahh, yes, I have cracked open some supplies at last.  This isn’t finished yet, but I will share all – including a step by step, when it’s done. 

just lying around…

A little while ago, whilst on another pretend to tidy my desk mission (I am the worlds most chaotic scrappy crafty journaller evidenced by the state of my desk – never to be seen on WOYWW for that very reason) I dedicated a jar to “bits”.  Stuff that hangs around my desk with no special home, off cuts of lace, odd buttons and keys, things that basically I can’t be bothered to put away. 
The idea of this jar was when I did do some sort of crafting I had to include something from the jar in whatever I was working on.
A few days ago I was sat at my desk – yep, pretending to “tidy it up” and found a Jenni Bowlin mini bingo card.  I, as always, couldn’t be bothered to put it away, so I dipped into my jar and challenged myself to do something with it.  And here’s the result…. a little hanging with a few words to keep me going while I do battle with day to day life.

Tomorrow should bring me a sewing machine, fingers crossed, and I already have a project started in readiness using up more “stuff” lying around my desk, *rubs hands together*.  Until then, thanks for stopping by.  I really do appreciate it.

New Blog!

Hello!

We're getting closer and closer to launching the online store, and ahead of that we have launched the shop blog "asprinkleof imagination.blogspot.com" and you can sign up to the newsletter at the shop to get updates.

Right - more cardboard boxes to open, check and upload! Better get to it.  Look forward to seeing you on the shop sites!

Sometimes it’s the simple things……

I know in my last post I complained (a little) about my life flying by at the moment, and there is a “good” reason for it.  But as I posted that last entry on my blog I realised that I miss blogging. In amongst all the day to day chaos I try and find five minutes to blog hop.  I don’t leave comments most of the time as I just hop on to the next blog having read, made a note of something interesting and added a new blog to my huge list of blogs to read and check back on.  See, I haven’t completely abandoned blogland, just my blog.

After all that it got me thinking about the simple pleasures in life, and I have decided to start a new feature on my blog, “Simple Things”. Imaginative title don’t you think?! LOL.  I dare say I won’t be the first to do it either, but hey,  I’d love it if you joined in with me.  If you do, leave a comment and I’ll drop by your blog to find out what it is that brightens your day.  I’m going to attempt to do this once a fortnight – I know in my heart of hearts weekly is just too much at the moment.

Without further a-do, here are my simple pleasures at this point in time.

My latest pair of shoes.  In my mind, foot perfection. I love to just look at them, I just wish it would stop raining so I can wear them more.

And my hardest working pair of shoes, my running shoes.  Yep, I’ve started running again. In a fashion anyway, but I’m getting there.  No marathons just yet.

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and a link to your blog if you decide to share your simple pleasures with me. I hope you do.

what happened?

Ahhh, life is just flying by way too fast at the moment, and I don’t seem to have two minutes to myself.  Last weekend was Rosie’s birthday and her chosen day out was to a chocolate factory! She’s been watching Willy Wonka. A lot. So, here she is loaded up into the car, complete with sunglasses, Princess tiara, birthday badge and pink monster.  Well, you have to don’t you.  Off we headed to Cadbury World.  I did explain it wasn’t going to be quite the same as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory (the Tim Burton version), but big PHEW, she loved it..and all that pink princess birthdayness got us tons of extra chocolate as well.  Go girl!  See, I knew there was a reason why we had kids.

Outside of that, here’s a few more Moleskines…..

I dare you to lose a red one in your bag!

Right then, it’s a quick love you and leave you. Again. Tons to do and the sooner I do it, the sooner I’ll get my life back and be able to create something other than chaos.  Ahhh, it’s good to dream.  Until next time..byeeee.

have you seen.....

what's over on the top right hand side of my blog.....?

I just couldn't contain myself any longer.  This is where all those moleskines are going.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll share peeks of what else will be "in store".