A CHRISTMAS PAGE

I was at AFTH last Sunday 22nd Dec , it was journalling for regulars and this is the page that Dyan chose for us to do.Basically we had to do a multi layered page using the Dylusions star stencil, I used the ghosting technique which is a Dyan speciallity, spraying through the stencil, embossing paste through the stencil which gives a lovely raised effect and paint through the stencil. We were then given a sheet of card and had to write about Christmas using the full page, we then chose different colours and sprayed the page using Dylusion sprays. On the reverse side we drew lots of stars through the stencil abd then cut them out we then gave one of our own stars to everyone in the class so we had a combination of our own stars and the gifted ones, brill idea these were glued on to our page, I doodled on mine, cut out some snowflakes and added a cut out tree from one of Dyan's

stencils. I had a lovely day and really, really enjoyed making this page.
I hope all my blogging friends have had a wonderful Christmas, I am enjoying a relaxing Boxing day having a good play with all my arty stuff and getting painty and messy.

FLYING TIME

OMG time really does fly I can't believe we are into December already, when you are a child time goes real slow but as an adult it's too fast. I actually had my calendar page ready on time but haven't had time to post it until today, it's my busy social life which interferes with getting things done in fact I ran out of time and did this page really quickly I'm not mad keen on it but it will have to do. I have been with Kate's challenge

from the beginning and have kept up so I am quite proud of that. I always think I will take my time and do things properly with lots of planning but............... Well here it is Christmasy if nothing else.

ON TIME WITH NOVEMBER

One more month to go and then I will have completed  4 years of Kate's Art Calendar challenge, yes I have been there from the beginning, hopefully I will continue into 2014. I used the Armistice and Rememberance day as my theme this month although you don't have to follow a theme, I hope you like it.

OCTOBER

I can't believe it is October already, where has this year gone to. I know they say as you get older time flies but this is ridiculous, anyway enough chat here is my October page for Kate's Art Calendar challenge. I did have it ready on time but forgot to post it on my blog!!!!

SEPTEMBER FINISHED

I didn't get around to blogging my September page of Kate's Art Calendar challenge mainly because I have been having problems with Blogger I couldn't post anything at all and then my Grand-daughter came along and changed everything to Google Chrome hey presto it works.Then I decided it was too late to post it so here is the finished version just to prove I am still taking part in the challenge.

ART CALENDAR CHALLENGE

August page was prepared well in advance but unfortunately I couldn't post it as something happened with blogger I was unable to post, link or add the photos. After a lot of fiddling around with various settings I am now hopefully able to post both July completed and August ready to go. There's still something not quite right but hey ho maybe one day.

ART CALENDAR JUNE &JULY

I didn't get around to blogging my June page of my art calendar (if you need to know what this is about check out The Kathryn Wheel) as I was late in actually preparing the page but here it is proof that I did do it and completed.
I was late with June but July I have had ready for a couple of weeks, I had to do as I have had so much on recently that again I would have had problems preparing it and next week I am away so needs must. The June page I didn't paint or spray I wanted a quick background so I stuck two sheets of paper on to the pages and joined them down the middle with washi tape, cut out the yellow journal squares and voila! July was done with the usual acrylic paints, inks, stencils and stamps.

FABBY WEEKEND

I have just spent a fab weekend. Friday I was at Art From The Heart journalling with the lovely and fantastically talented Dyan. I can't show you yet what we did as my pages are not finished, I will blog them at a later date.
Saturday saw me at The Craft Den in Sheffield, owned by the lovely Lynne, a fab shop stacked with wonderful paper crafting stuff and gorgeous fabrics for you peeps who sew.I was there for a workshop with the lovely and extremely talented Kate Crane. We were there to make a Junk Journal if you don't know what one of these is just take a look at Kate's (the kathryn wheel ) blog. I had a fantastic day with a great group of crafting ladies. Here is my front cover of the Junk Journal I haven't bound it together yet with the inside pages as I want to add a few things which is much easier before it is all put together with the Bind It All machine, so I may show you a few inside pages later.

GOODBYE APRIL AND HELLO MAY

Well that's another month gone, it's amazing where time goes to, maybe time flies more so when we are all involved in Kate's calendar challenge. I have kept up with April and have got my May page ready to go even if it wasn't ready for the 1st. This time for May I have used a 7Gypsies stamp which is not a normal stamp and unfortunately the dots on some of the days, smudged and blotted, so that is why I have leaves here and there to cover up the mess. The stamps I have used this time are all from Paper Artsy and designed by Jo Firth-Young, they are wonderful stamps I love them and have quite a few, well you need them don't you lol !

May

April

A LOVELY DAY

Friday saw me at my favourite place Art From The Heart, I was there for a journaling workshop with the fantastic and talented Kate Crane. It really was a lovely day with a great bunch of friendly ladies. The objective was to learn how to SHADE using Suzi Blu stamps, these stamps do have large areas which lend themselves to the technique. We stamped our images, coloured them, cut them out and then did the background for this we used the gorgeous Golden paints and lots of Kate's background techniques. I also used Washi tape and the Suzi Blu quote I stamped on to old book page. I did my two pages in my small A5 Moleskine journal the pages are watercolour paper which is quite sturdy and perfect for journal backgrounds. Everything WE used can be bought at AFTH.

A SECRET BOOK BOX

Yesterday I spent a fantastic day at the Craft Den Sheffield, I was there for an Andy Skinner workshop and what a fabulous workshop it was, I can't wait for the next two workshops that Andy is teaching at the Craft Den in May. Yesterday we altered a "book box" using all sorts of different techniques such as image transfer, decorative aged crackle effect and how to acheive a rusty look using paints, stencils, modeling paste and a graphite pencil. Unfortunately I am not very good with a camera so I am not able to show you a lot of detail but you will get an idea from this photo especially if you double click on the photo.

APRIL CALENDAR POST

April already, I don't know about you but I don't like the way the time just flies by anyway it is that time again when we all post our calendar challenge pages hosted by the lovely and extremely talented Kate Crane. Again mine is in my home made 10"x8" book which I just love, the pages are made from Tim's manilla card which is perfect for painted backgrounds. This time my background is painted using Tim's Distress Paints in Spring colours seeing as it is supposed to be Spring at this time of year but unfortunately we are still experiencing Arctic conditions with snow still hanging around. I cut egg shapes for my journal blocks to represent new life in Spring, all my little figures are Stampotique except the blue bunny which is from the Octopode Factory. I have a few Rub-Ons here and there and my lettering is from a Suzi Blu alphabet stamp. Nothing too spectacular when you take a look at the calendar pages on Face Book but at least I am keeping up with the challenge this being my 3rd year.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WHEN SNOWED IN!

DH went out in his 4x4 to do the shopping and I worked on this page in my Dylusions Art Journal by Ranger, I love this journal infact I have two and can't wait for the next lot to appear in different sizes. For the background  I used Tim's Distress Paints Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo and Picket Fence, I love these paints they are so easy to apply. I glued various ephemera to the page, lace, torn book page, music, old air line ticket, mesh and film strip ribbon from Tim's Idea-ology range. The photo is from my Sleeping Beauty ballet programme which I distressed a little using a fine sand paper. The drips and splashes are Dylusion inks Black Marble and Nutmeg, butterfly is from a magazine. Actually the whole page was inspired by the front cover of Somerset Apprentice which was done on a canvas but I thought it would look good as a grungy journal page hope you do too. The photo looks a bit dark even though it was taken in the window with glaring white snow and sun shining through. Now I am going to carry on working in my book Art Doodle Love by Dawn DeVries Sokol which is a wonderful book for art journalling I love it.

ART JOURNALLING AND SILHOUETTES

I have been meaning to post this journal page for quite sometime but kept forgetting as normal life takes over as usual. I did this at my favourite place, Art From The Heart, at the beginning of March and because of St David's Day Dyan said we had to use yellow in the background. I really enjoyed doing this page, everything you see is Dylusions, background inks, stencils and stamps plus of course the journal itself which if you are an art journaler you must get one of these if you haven't already got one.

COMPLETED ON TIME BUT........

.....I didn't manage to post my art calendar page on time even though it was ready at the beginning of the week, too many other things going on. This is my Art Calendar March page for Kate's 365 Calendar challenge, have a look at Kate's blog to see all the other calendar pages. I chose the background colour as it is my Birthday this month, I think my colour is Amethyst but the background looks more like lilac rather than amethyst. The journal squares were cut from a piece I did on the Gelli Plate, my images are all from Stampotique. I have used some Washi tape too, it's one of my fave things at the moment.

FABRIC ART

On Saturday I made a little book using fabric for the covers. I attached, by machine sewing, a piece of cream linen to the front and back covers which were cut from card and then I made a fabric collage for both front and back using pieces of material, lace, buttons and felt, everything was attached using the sewing machine. I covered the inside covers with a piece of Gelli Plate art and the handmade pages were made from recycled cotton rag. This was a first attempt, I am quite pleased with it but hopefully the next one will be better as I hope to gather more appropriate embellishments and fabric. I am sorry but my photos are the  wrong way round they were correct until I uploaded them to my blog, I don't know why it does this, however, they should be vertical not horizontal.

AT LAST

 The middle of February and I thought I would never make it, I have never been so late with my Art Calendar inspired by the lovely and very talented Kate Crane. There are not many calendars on blogs this year as Kate has set up a page on Facebook and everyone is posting on their.My page was done using Tim's new Distress paints, gorgeous. My journal squares are cut from a Gelli Plate sheet again using Tim's Distress paints, the 2 figures are Stampotique and the word February and year are stamped on the page using Tim's new alphabet and numbers "Worn Text". The border of course is one of Dylusions and the little heart on the 14th came in a package from ART FROM THE HEART, they always do this, so sweet.

A BIRTHDAY CARD

Today is my Grand-daughter Elena's 17th Birthday. It's at times like this that you really do realise that time flies, I can remember in every detail the day she was born, I cried buckets with happiness. I picked her up from College last Friday and told her that I had bought her a birthday card this time, I hadn't made it myself, she then told me that she had kept every card I had made her in the past! I then felt very guilty and so this weekend I made her this card. The background was made using my Gelli Plate, I actually made the background, amongst lots of others, last Wednesday at the lovely Kate's workshop. The image is a Suzi Blu which I think is perfect for a young girl. For a present I bought Elena a lovely Kelly Rae Roberts porcelaine doll called "LOVE"  It is based on the images that she uses for her paintings etc and is gorgeous but sorry I don't have a photo of it and now it is all wrapped up as I am going over to Huddersfield to pick Elena up from college so bye for now.

MY FIRST JOURNAL PAGE OF 2013

Hi everyone I hope you are all managing to keep warm in this awful snowy weather,I am hoping it is going to go pretty fast as I have a workshop to attend on Wednesday with the lovely Kate Crane. Well lets get down to the reason I am blogging and that is my first completed journal page of 2013. This is a new style for me as I normally go with Dyan or Kate. I have found some lovely blogs belonging to some Polish girls and I just love the way they journal, I was inspired by their art work to produce this double page spread in my A4 journal I hope you like it. I am afraid the poor lighting has changed the colour as it actually is a white background and the background the journal is layed on is also white.

2013

A Happy New Year to all my followers and crafty blog friends, I hope it is a wonderful one for you all. Pat xx