Yoohooo!

Well that was the month that was! I've been beavering away finishing all the last minute bits for my course and I'm soooo glad to say I'm almost there - I hand it all in on Tuesday YAY!

So, not much time for creating lately - well, I have done one or two things, which I will post over the coming week :D

But for today, I'd just like to say: who wouldn't want these DVD's by the fabulous Kate Crane?




Well I do for starters, that's why I'm entering Kate's give away!

To be in with a chance, check out Kate's blog here

Our own Royal Wedding!

The day of our own 'Royal' Wedding dawned - a little windy but the sun was shining.
Some bloggy friends have asked me to share a few photographs so here they are - I was so busy socialising (I LOVE being with my family) that when I uploaded the photo's, I realised how many perfect shots I missed!

The dresses await the Bride and her bridesmaids.



Steph's hair..



I love this shot of our two girls...



Laura-Beth bought these 'I Do' blingy crystals for the bottom of Steph's shoes...



"I'm so excited Mum!" That's me in the background and yes - I had my hair straightened!



The Wedding car caused quite a stir - the races were also on in York so it was very busy and a large crowd gathered outside the church, when Andy and Steph arrived they cheered, whistled and clapped - Andy said they felt like celebrities! (Move over William and Kate!)



Jim, Laura-Beth and Charlie



Is this a proposal?
Actually, they are getting married next year :D



Mum and Dad



Andrew, Stan and Shelley



Niamh's Kurt Geiger shoes also caused a bit of a stir - not least, everyone asked how did she walk in them! (those plastic heel caps had to be worn to protect the floor of The Merchant Adventurer's - a medieval hall)



Martin and Niamh



The absolutely fantastic Ceilidh Band...



A special day was made even more special because Andy's beloved sister Marilyn was able to be there, indeed, here she is dancing!



That's me cautioning Andy not to embarrass Steph during his Father of the Bride speech! My cheeks are rosy from the wine!



Mr and Mrs Taylor!



And yet another stir was caused by the fantabulous choccywoccydoodah cake... I don't know if you've seen the tv show? Everything on the cake is edible - sculpted from chocolate! Spot those lego people on the top? It was served with coffee after the meal - I didn't even get a piece and they are away on honeymoon now so I hope its still OK to eat by the time they get back!

Late!

I'm late posting this month's offering for the 365 calendar Challenge and I did the background in March because I knew April was going to be busy.....just goes to show how good intentions go awry sometimes :)



But here it is, better late than never eh?



And this is April all filled in...we had a busy month but it was filled with my favourite pastime - spending time with family and friends :D



Right, this is an early morning post and I'm off to get ready to go to Harrogate for a play day at my favourite place with my buddy Shelley - first time we've had chance to get messy together in ages!

The Good Life

Last week I taught a workshop at Art from the Heart - we made a gorgeous book with 7Gypsies paper and lots of their gorgeous metal trinkets.



We worked hard (well they did!) we laughed a lot and generally had a good time. Dyan observed me (for my teaching practice) and gave me 10 out of 10 for remembering to do risk assessments etc. hehehe - the bane of everyone's life.
One more essay and one more observation and I'll be finished...and what a celebration that will be...the course has been fraught with disaster. The first year I had a poor Tutor, really disorganised, didn't mark our essays or give proper feedback - basically, we had to muffle through ourselves, and then although we got a fantastic Tutor for the second year, sadly she died in February and I haven't been to College since then - you've heard the saying 'Physician, heal thyself'? well its been like that 'Teacher, teach thyself'!

Anyway, back to The Good Life.... Julie kindly emailed these photographs to me as my camera died :( - They seem small - don't know whether that's how I loaded them or whether it's how Julie sent them - you know Jpeg sizes and all that, but I hope you can see them anyway.



Top: - L-R Karen, Julie, June and Andrea
Bottom: L-R Jackie, Janet, Jane and Lisa



There are lots of pockets and flaps and envelopes and pullouts in this book so it was a very hands on morning - and really - you can see them all working hard - so hard that they did daft things like gluing the edges down BEFORE making the pockets... Sorry Jane - I had to spill the beans!

It made us all laugh a lot that we do some really daft things sometimes when we know we are all competent and intelligent people! What is it that makes us do that? Anyway, it was certainly an icebreaker and we all relaxed and just enjoyed playing and chatting the day away while creating a thing of beauty!



I shall be posting my 365 Calendar May pages when I get back to Yorkshire (seeing as that's where I left my journal and I need to upload photos of it!)

The Demise of the Original Frappucino (sob)

We spent Easter at home in Yorkshire. Its been a busy time, visiting family and friends and writing essays. I haven't had much time for creating except to begin the May page in my 365 art calendar which I will show you in another post.
April 17th was Andy's 12th transplant anniversary - I cannot believe how the years are flying by... its always a thankful day for us and a day of reflection...we take off and go walking, but that was a bit difficult this year as I had sprained my ankle 3 weeks previously, so we packed a picnic and went to Rufford Country Park




Andy set up the picnic spot...



We chatted, read our books, had a lovely picnic lunch courtesy of Marks and Spencer (they have some fabulous ready made salads - I had lochmuir salmon, Andy had feta cheese and falafel) then we went for a gentle stroll around the park and up to the abbey...



The weather has been exceptional lately hasn't it, and people were out in droves... ususally we like to be alone and quiet, but this day it just felt right to be among crowds - strangely enough, we had all the 'space' we needed for our reflective moments :)

Later on, we called in to see Marilyn....



And we rounded the day off with a BBQ with our dear friends, Stan and Shelley...



The rest of our 'holiday' has been a round of visits, being visited, reading (for essay purposes!) shopping for wedding shoes (achy achy achy feet!) and Andy was a guest speaker at St Helen's Church for three nights during Easter week.

Easter day arrived and with it, my last original Coffee Light Frappucino (double blended of course) at our favourite Starbucks - Xscape, Castleford.

Now you might not think much about it, but I only drink water, hot or cold, and the Starbucks Frappucino mentioned above.... oh, and the occasional glass of wine...

So its a big deal to me... I have written and pleaded with Starbucks to bring back the original, because the NEW way of making a coffee light frappucino is nowhere near as good .... is that because its the lighter version? it actually tasted like water - when I told them this they put in two extra shots of coffee but that made it taste smoky... it wasn't nice at all!




Having said that, Joanne, one of the Barista's at the Xscape branch, spent some time yesterday, trying to make a frap that I could drink, she was so helpful because she knows that I have drunk this drink for nearly 8 years ( I am a creature of habit.... plus it tastes nice!)



I was definitely 'all frapped out' after this tasting session! (Our three children will find this hard to believe and I'm sure after they read this they will ring me with some jokey comments!)

I hope you all have had good Easter holidays and didn't eat too many eggs... of the chocolatey kind :)

It's just over three weeks till our youngest daughter's wedding so there's an atmosphere of excitement building in our house. It means I won't be in creating mode for a while longer yet, except for some much anticipated painty, inky respite at AFTH for the Dina workshops in a couple of weeks :D that will give me a whole two weeks to get my hands nice and clean for the wedding....

Woe is me!

Hiya one and all... I've just arrived home in Yorkshire for an overnight stay, we've done a little visiting and we were going to go dancing tonight except that I'm on crutches! I fell in a (very big!) pot hole on Sunday and I've sprained my ankle! I have an aversion to hospitals (when I'm the patient!) so I didn't go for an xray until Monday, thankfully my ankle isn't broken but I have been given a set of crutches - "Use them," he said, "or you'll cause yourself other problems" and I believe it - I had been hobbling around and now my hips and my knees are hurting! So I'm doing as the Dr ordered and using the crutches - I feel silly and they are very cumbersome so I'm a tad grumpy!

Anyway, onto the 365 calendar challenge ..... March finished....



And April ready....



I've taken the photo's tonight so I'm sorry about the shadow... I can't do it tomorrow because we're up early and away back to Durham... on the way we shall make a pit stop in lovely Helmsley - I am going shopping for an outfit for our daughter's wedding in May. Don't know how I'll fair with the crutches but I've got to stick to the plan!

Do the eyes have it?

Nobody laugh.

I love art... I love being able to mess around with paint and ink and images and all - I would love to be able to draw - but I can't. Simple truth.

But today, when I called in at AFTH to see Dyan, she just happened to be teaching a class, and they just happened to be drawing...

"Sit down, join in," said Dyan. Which I did with some trepidation... I have been admiring Chris's face drawings for a while and I thought "I've got to start somewhere..."

First we drew a face. This is mine - titled 'art by Sandra' - age 7 - because it looks like what I used to draw when I was about 7!



Dyan showed us how to draw different styles of eyes, these eyes are similar to Kelly Rae's style......well my version of them anyway!



This is Dyan's own inimitable style...



Dyan unleashed us to have a go at drawing both eyes together - which is the difficult part - see my first set crossed out? I told you not to laugh!



So because you laughed, I'm not going to show you the WHOLE faces that I drew!
(...no really...you don't want to see them!) hehehe. Now if I was talented sketcher like Jill, I might show you.

I will have another go at doing some sketching though because like I said, I would LOVE to be able to draw, and they do say practice makes perfect.

I left the ladies looking forward to moving their work onto canvas after lunch...I shall look forward to seeing how they turned out.


Now onto the art calendar challenge, here are my February pages (almost) finished...



And March (nearly) ready to go...



AND...drum roll please... I have made a start on APRIL! Yes you read that correctly...I have a busy month ahead so I thought I'd better get a head start on you all...



The picture is quite poor, but I've laid down a background of Dylusions mustard and rose, I have done a little spraying too but of course I shall add some more splodges and lovely grunginess to it ...I suppose I am being that 7 year old from above saying "ner ner ner ner ner, I'm in front of you!"

That stamp on the page is what I shall use for the days (which are also missing from the other pages)

I'll be popping by to see what everyone else has been up to with their calendar pages for this month :)