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.