The Carnival is over!

It's been a whirlwind month for me with lots of birthday celebrations with family and friends!

Cards kept arriving like this...



Ann made this particular card - its kind of her signature to use a childhood photo in her handmade cards - yes - that little girl is ME! I think you can tell with the eyes. I LOVE it Ann - thank you!



I was wined and dined by our friends Ellen and Tuck...



On Saturday we went to Lincoln and then Grapevine where we met up with other friends Cliff and Janice...





On Sunday, we had a birthday lunch at Ask... I wasn't expecting Laura-Beth, but Steph had arranged it all as (another!) surprise...



More surprise gifts to go with the not so surprise gifts!



When we visit Laura-Beth and Jim in Leicester, we usually pay a visit to Narborough Hall - especially at Christmas because you can buy some lovely and unusual gifts, so I was excited when Laura-Beth passed this bag over to me...



After the meal we spent the afternoon at Brodsworth Hall, there was a vintage car rally event so it was quite busy...





We had a fabulous afternoon - near perfect except that our son was unable to be with us - a day trip from Belfast was asking a bit much I think!



It was like old times, when the children were young, we used to visit this old Hall often, Laura-Beth was very impressionable and had a dream that she was one of the servants here... Steph still teases her to this day about that dream so we all trooped up to the servants' quarters to check out 'her' room...the beds are now obviously mattress-less and that was the joke - as a little girl, Laura-Beth was horrified that the servants had to sleep on a bed with bare springs! (she vehemently tells us that it was not a dream she had, but a nightmare!)



Now my birthday is one of significance as I told you, so you'd think it was me that would be nostalgic, but my girls asked if we could have a 'Saturday tea' like we did when they were children...


We are a family who eats at the dining table, but occasionally, on a Saturday, I used to make a 'high tea' and we would lay it out on the coffee table and we would all sit on the floor around the table and eat while we watched 'The New Adventures of Superman'!! Ahhh the memories.

I was feeling pretty elated by our day with the girls, but we still had Northern Soul event to attend that evening....



...and my friends had yet more surprises in store... Julie, Karen and Jackie had arranged balloons, nibbles and cake as well as flowers and gifts galore!



All this love, generosity and attention has overwhelmed me - I know its been a special birthday - I won't ever be 50 again - but I feel really blessed - there's no other word for it!

I've not shown all the photo's and gifts surrounding this birthday - it would take too long and I don't want to bore you! I'm going to be very busy starting tomorrow (when the boxes arrive) packing for our move in a few weeks, so I will be MIA for a while - I'll still visit other blogs but the only creating I will be doing myself, will be scrapbook pages for my classes.

Sister's day out - plus Mum and Dad!

There are four of us Jones girls. Lynn, Diane, Me and Brenda (age order) We try to get together often, although busy lives and work sometimes prevent that. But we always make sure we celebrate our birthdays with a 'Sister's day out' around the time of our birthdays - Brenda and I share a date as her birthday is the day after mine. This year is her 30th wedding anniversary too - they married on my birthday - and they are going to Madrid for a special celebration, so we brought our outing forward.



We take gifts with us wherever we go and have 'an opening prezzies' ceremony! As you can see, we had an open air ceromony this year - on the cliff tops at Filey.
Brenda got to go first...



(I'm only showing these two so you get the picture...)



The piccies of me are on their camera's! I didn't have as many goodies to open as they decided to fund my need for art supplies so I was given cash this year, along with a lovely cup, earrings, make-up and things like that!

This year we decided to take our Mum and Dad with us as both of them have had poor health and we wanted them to see just what we get up to on our legendary Sister's Days Out! They were very excited when I picked them up, they love it when their girls are altogether - and they got us all to themselves - no husbands, no grandchildren! Just like old times.
Mum loved every moment of it and so did Dad - especially the fish and chips part!




So that was celebration number two... and its not over yet!
This will certainly be a month to remember in my art calendar - So far I have only recorded a snapshot of each day and haven't even embellished the pages yet except for the background - I'm too busy socialising! (You all know that means I'm worn out, right?)

Episode two - The Gifts!

When I arrived at Art from the heart, two art journal buddies had left birthday cards for me...Sueq and bezzie Su, so that was a lovely surprise in itself besides all the trouble Ben and Katie had gone to...


...and I was more than a little overwhelmed to receive these lovely and very thoughtful gifts from ...
Ann who bought me an artists water pot, a moleskin journal AND



altered this box! It's gorgeous - I love it! inside the box were two pens for art journaling...



...a black one and a white one...plus - oddly you may think! a spaghetti measuring tool... ha .... what did she get me that for you are wondering...
Well I will be able to use this as a stencil to spray inks through for my art journaling... very thoughtful and a great idea eh?



Christine who handmade this journal for me... I absolutely love it!


She had thoughtfully tucked in some little bits and pieces that I can use to adorn the pages....



...and prepared a couple of backgrounds too!
Christine took over from Katie on the night and kept us all on track - especially when it came to stitching the lining into the purse...a tricky business! My sister Diane thought you were wonderful and calm amongst all the chaos of the 'party goings on' Christine!



Pat is another Starbucks fan and we usually meet at the Starbucks in Sainsburys if we happen to be on the same workshop at Art from the Heart An altered frame - I love it! and she also gave me this Scrapbook book(!) by Elsie Flanningan (great scrapbook style) so I'll be getting a few ideas from this!



Gill hunted down this antique cross - I just love it! As if that wasn't enough, she also gave me this note book. I do really feel overwhelmed at the thought that everyone put in to these gifts!



And Anne-Marie and Lesley bought me this lovely plant and some scrummy chocolates - I have been a good girl and not eaten one yet.... my actual birthday is 30th August so I shall indulge then...



Now, as it was a fun party, I had the idea of doing party bags (you know like children have - I'm trying to roll back the years a little!) and I thought I'd do a 'party bag' with a difference, so I made a fun pocket for each lady out of pages from a Starbucks note pad (they gave me this at our local store - ahem - I go there a lot!)
I used Dyan's downloads and heart stamps and obviously a head shot of me. Funny eh?



I loaded up a Starbucks card so the ladies could enjoy a drink on me. Everyone laughed because they know how much I enjoy a coffee light frappucino - it HAS to be double blended though! (And so far nobody has made ME one like Kristina does at our local store!)



I am really thankful for my friends. I have great friends.

Birthday Celebration number One...

I'm quite liking the idea of a 'birthday month' as I've managed to do quite a bit of celebrating with friends and family!

The start of my birthday celebrations was when Laura-Beth, Jim and Charlie came for a visit. We did 'holiday' kind of things and enjoyed a few outings together - we are calling this their 'Museums Visit' as that's what we did while they were in Yorkshire!



Our first trip out was to Xscape in Castleford - although its a leisure park not a museum - Charlie loves ten pin bowling.... "I think this would be good for one you Andy" he said. "Not too heavy"



Then we had a day in York, the National Railway Museum is great (and free!)



Also in York is the famed Jorvik Viking Centre. TIP - if you go, do try to book online first - our youngest daughter has lived in York for nearly five years and every time we've visited her and browsed around lovely York (how can you NOT?) there is ALWAYS a long queue outside this place!



And we went to Caphouse Mining Museum ... Andy was a miner for many years, in fact one of the youngest Mine Managers in the UK before he had to finish on health grounds.



Charlie liked this place the best (he told us later) I wonder if its because Andy was able to tell many stories of his time down the mine - plus Laura-Beth told him how her Dad occasionally came home looking like those men in the photo above (VERY dirty!) because the pit showers were broken! (I used to groan at having to clean the bath on those occasions but the girls LOVED to see him like that and used to squeal with delight when he walked in the door! I have no idea why!)



There are interactive things for children to do as you look around the museum as well as comprehensive displays and lots of memories of the mining life. Laura-Beth took Charlie through a 'tunnel' to show him how dark it would be when we actually went underground. You need to book your trip 'down the mine' which I heartily recommend, although be warned, you have to carry a battery pack to light your miners lamp (a few pounds becomes quite heavy after a while!) and you go down in a 'pit cage' just as real miners have to. Squished in with about fifteen other folk!



They also visited The Royal Armouries museum in Leeds on the morning before they left (Andy and I were unable to go with them) So if you do come to Yorkshire, our museums have a lot to offer and they are definitely not boring!

A Birthday MONTH!

Taking a leaf from Kate's book and Sarah's book, I have decided to post this story in episodes!

I recently had (one of!) my birthday celebrations at Art from the Heart. There was a sparkle missing because as many people know, Dyan has been ill and was unable to be there. However, Ben and Katie stepped up to the mark in true 'Reaveley' style! They prepared the room with birthday fayre, balloons poppers and all. Katie started us all off before having to leave and Ben was left alone to cope with all of us... it didn't faze him a jot....

We had planned to have Jude join in the celebrations (even though she lives about 300 miles away!) through skype - yes the marvel of technology eh? Jude had bought some of the canvas mats we were using when she was down in Harrogate at the Dina Wakeley weekend so she could 'join' us in making the graffiti canvas purse that Ann is showing here....



It didn't happen though because as I said Dy was absent, and she would have set up the link through her laptop .... but here are some of the birthday crowd... Shelley and Sharon....



My sister, Lynn....



My sister, Diane.... (our baby sister Brenda was missing - some of her staff were off work that day and as she's the boss she couldn't leave the office understaffed) When we are all together we are know as the Jones girls


you can spot Christine there about to impart some wisdom to our Diane...

Lesley and Anne-Marie... I have to tell all the ladies who attend my Scrapbook classes - they FINISHED their project on the night!!! They are notoriously known for chatting so much in class that they never finish anything - although I do add here that for the last few weeks Anne-Marie has made a concerted effort!



And Gill... ha ha, I HAD to post this photo - it makes me happy because photo's like these bring back to your memory the conversations that were going on at the time...
I shall just say that they were funny....


You can just see Pat there, hiding behind Gill... she managed to be hiding (from my camera at least) for most of the night!

Unfortunately, a few people were unable to make it too ...Lynn, Virginia and Janeyb.

I'm going to leave it there for now and will do a 'show and tell' post of the lovely gifts I received next time.

Intensive Art Therapy.........

I have spent three - yes THREE blissful days at the artistic home of this lady...


That's because I've been to my fave place in Harrogate - Art From the Heart
And I created arty pieces like this...



..with other arty people like these...



...under the artistic tuition of this fantastic lady...



(another photo 'cos I LOVE her! I learned so much...) The talented Dina Wakley



The lady figure used in my work is a favourite image of Dina's and she calls her Betty - pretty apt I thought, as Harrogate is famous for Betty's.



Now there should be a photograph of the most beautiful Jude here but it seems to be missing - but this is her work... Jude and I are bloggy friends and met in person earlier this year at Dyans - it feels like we have been friends forever... and btw her husband is the BEST personal shopper in the whole wide world. Ask Anybody!



Another one of mine - Jude liked this one, she calls it my 'giraffe piece' because of the colours I think, and perhaps the markings! (I applied the paint with a credit card) Oh - can you spot Betty in there - perhaps she's visiting the zoo?



Now onto day three - Shelley was able to join me today and we had MEGA fun 'creating "painted" portraits' (We applied paint and pastels to colour a photograrph, mine was black and white, blown up and printed onto A4 card) It took a leap of artistic guts for me to do this - I was pretty nervous, (I think most of the students were) I've shown them in the order I did them... in this first one of me, my brush strokes were long, hence the effect I achieved here - I'm not saying I don't like it, in fact I'm quite pleased with it for my first attempt. Some of the others had fantastic results - Steph forgot her own photographs so she altered 'photo's of Dyan and John and wow oh wow, what an amazing job she did. (You'll have to check Dy's blog for them)



This one of Laura-Beth is better, although I still need more practice blending the tones...



And then my third attempt with a photograph of Steph, our bride to be.
It's a scary process you know, my tummy kept flipping and my mind was thinking eeeek, here's what it looks like after adding colour to the face and hair as the eyes and mouth are left till last..



I like this the best, although I still need to work on the contrast of dark and light.. but Andy Warhol watch this space!



Ah, here's Shelley playing away...



And here she is again with Jude - glamour girls together..



Dina giving instruction and advice with son, Carter (THE most amiable young man!) getting in on the act..



And here is Ann, who made me laugh the whole weekend - she brought along this netting so we could use it to make texture in our work and jokingly put it on her head (Ena Sharples style)



And perhaps the funniest thing of the whole weekend was the fact that she has renamed these wonderful pastels - they are now known as 'portafino' - and if you see Jude she will teach you how to pronounce it - true Italian style!

Well they do have a P and an O and an R and T and an F ....



It shall be quiet on this front for a couple of weeks as my arty goods are being packed away, my art room is a bedroom and we are going to be having a little visitor from Leicester who will need to occupy the space! Laura-Beth, Jim and Charlie are coming to stay. Happy times!