Phew! That was one HOT month!

I don't know about you but July seems to begin the countdown to Christmas for me...
The first half of the year is over and the next six months are upon us.
Here are my June and July art calendar pages... July is still in progress (I feel free to write that - see comment below!) I used Dyan's Altered Original spray inks and paints for the background which I will continue to work on throughout the month.





June came and went in a blink!





Well I thought I'd better bring this to your attention...



You are either very polite bloggers not to make reference or you didn't notice the spelling mistake about my 'pigrimage'!!! I was looking at my page after I'd posted on my blog and laughed out loud! (in my defense all I can say is that I was so involved in my desire to write neatly and make the word fit in the space I had that I made a mistake!!)
I did get a 'phone call from my mate Gill who seems to be the only other person who spotted it, she asked "What on earth is a pigrimage"!!
Anyway this is how I've had to amend it....



June has been a scorching month hasn't it? I'm not a sun worshipper at all but I have loved the sunshine - I feel as though we've had 'proper' seasons (so far!) this last year - a snowy Winter, a fresh Spring and now a hot Summer.

It's been a strange old month for me, busy on a few fronts, finalising work for College, (thanks for your words of encouragement last post) lots of hospital visits with both Mum and Dad who have had some poor health recently and are feeling weary of all the too-ing and fro-ing...



There is no stopping the onslaught of age and how it affects our loved ones and this year has been tough as we lost my Auntie to Alzheimer's just two months ago. I cannot, absolutely cannot bear the thought of losing my beloved parents. So whether it be in hospital waiting rooms or wherever, I treasure every moment I get to spend with them. Just writing that has been cathartic as I have been resentful because all my time seems to have been eaten up in hospital waiting rooms for the first half of this year - with Auntie Glad, Mum and Dad and myself. I'm looking forward to the next six months and better health for us all!

I'm also looking forward to more of this kind of therapy...

Art Journaling is one of my favourite things to do and yesterday I went for a 'messing around day at Art from the Heart and I got a whole day to play....



It was just wonderful to mess around with no pressure to complete anything...



Being in the company of other like minded people and listening to ordinary, everyday chitter chatter was just what I needed. I was telling Dyan how I flit about in my journals and so it takes me ages before I get a finished piece of work to post and she encouraged me to post 'works in progress' so here they are...



This one is waiting for spray inks...



This one for some words and more doodling...



And these, well I just don't know yet, but I love them even in this bare state. I certainly had fun with Dyan's new Altered Original spray inks...







My own set...



Dyan is really pleased with her inks...they have gone down a storm, if you love this kind of art I encourage you to get some here



Now I love the world of blogging and just to prove how friendly bloggy folk are check out this next photo...last Saturday Andy and I went to an all dayer (a Northern Soul all day dance extravaganza) in Bridlington and I was approached by this lovely lady who recognised me from my blog photograph... what a network of friends you make when you jump in (DO IT Janeyb!) This is chrisg



And as its been such a hot month, here is a photograph of Andy purchasing my favourite tipple at one of our favourite places...a coffee light frappucino - double blended of course! Try it and see what you think...



Byeeeeeee!

And she lets out a sigh of relief.....

I feel starved... of creating that is! I've been slogging away on an assignment "Principles and Theories of Learning" for my teacher training course. Well I handed my whole TPP in last night so that's my first year over! After I left college, we had a drink and a treat...look away now Carmen....



I deserved it! It has been hard work...I enjoyed the learning, just struggled to convert all that knowledge into the essays. But it's done now, so today I took myself into my room and PLAYED....
A couple of months ago, I made a journal after watching a Teesha Moore You Tube video. I have also made something similar at Dyan's where I bought this gorgeous hanging adornment to embellish the journal when its finished. I haven't really attached it yet otherwise I won't be able to lay the pages flat to work on but I wanted to show it off...is it not lovely?




I used borders by Marsha at Tumblefish Studios, I followed a link from Kate and was hooked, a girl can't have too much choice you know.
Anyway, this is the title...



Andy thought it said 'A journey into the unknown, but I like the play on words here....



I added the little Stampotique guy 'cos I like the stamps, they are full of expression and you can make them 'fit' all sorts of situations...I guess Pat will approve, I think she has more than 50 of these stamps!



The colour isn't great here but I've also used a few collage images from Crowabout Studio ... you know, those weird one eyed people that kinda grow on you... I am really beginning to like 'different'. It's expression, and I want to express myself. (Although I don't think I'll be venturing into the spooky doll heads just yet Kate!)




AND, I am rather proud of this vine...I've seen other people do these after art journal workshops at Dyan's but never had a tutorial myself..can't wait to see what Dy thinks of these! Actually, I'd better not boast too much here, all I did was draw the 'vine' then I used Dyan's leaf stamp from the flower plate and coloured them in! I still I think it looks good though.



I used a couple of ART quotes for the journaling, lettering from a tutorial by yes, my buddy and mentor, Dyan



And looky here...more pages to create art on...and a whole Summer ahead of me to do it in!



I am going up to AFTH tomorrow, so I will be coming back with the new Altered Original spray inks that Dyan has just released, I can't wait to have a play with all those delicious looking colours.
I'm going to check out all the blogs I've been missing for the last month - I tell you what though, it was hard to discipline myself not to go blog hopping when I should have been researching for that assignment...are we blog addicts??!!