Dylusions journal

Well I got my hands on the fabulous and rapidly selling out brand spanking new Dylusions journal. And boy do I LOVE it! You might have a gazillion journals but you NEED this one :-)

Here are a few pages that I started. I just had to do a bit of mark making on those pages - although when I first got it, I did sit and flick through the pages, stroking them tenderly - after all, they are going to know my secrets over the coming months!

They are works in progress... I just wanted to get some colour on the pages :)

Preview Day

This coming Saturday is Preview Day at Art from the Heart in Harrogate. Come along and enjoy the fun - it's a great day out with tea and scrummy cakes, a shop full of arty goodies to purchase (or indeed to drool over!) plus a great opportunity to take a taster workshop with Marie, Kate, Kaz or myself.

It seems like ages since I blogged and I confess I am struggling to juggle my new lifestyle, fulfill commitments and keep up with the things I enjoy doing! But just to show I have been doing a little arting, here are a few sneaky peeks of my upcoming workshops at AFTH over the next couple of months....

If you book a workshop (or two or three!) on the day you can justify your spend - there's a 10% discount!

Atempts at a Dina-esque page

You attend the workshops, then when you go home you almost forget what you learned.... well if you're like me you do! 

But the thing is, its still there in the back of your mind, it keeps niggling at you, until you have to have a go at home. On your own. Sometimes it works and other times not. But you have to keep trying. And I will.

I'm a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, he  writes about people who excel, all manner of people from the Beatles to Bill Gates.  To get good at what they do, in other words, successful, they practised and worked and practised some more - Gladwell's research led him to estimate a figure of 10,000 times. Yes TEN THOUSAND! 

So here is my number one attempt at a technique taught by the fabulous Dina Wakely. 

 When I first attempted drawing this kind of face in Dina's workshop, she was there, urging me on..... sadly, she was not with me in my art room today! It's not what I want it to look like but its a start. Only 9,999 more faces to go!

Looks like she's got a cold, or she could be related to Rudolph! as in the red nosed reindeer :)

I used Dylusions paint and spray inks, Dina's stamps and what Dina calls, a 'magic' pencil, all available here

A Quickie!

A short but sweet post.... I'm finally catching up with my art calendar having had a little play in my art room this morning so here is August...

I got me some new stamps while I was teaching at AFTH the other day and I was just itching to use them! 

(You'll have to forgive my lack of patriotism - not using the Olympics as a theme this month)

Happy Days!

No posts for two months and here I am - two posts in two days! But I had to share some good news ... our son asked his dream girl to marry him last night and she said YES!  They face timed us later and showed us the ring on her finger. I am one very happy lady! Congratulations Martin and Niamh :D

This afternoon I picked up my Teesha Moore style journal and had fun playing with collage, doodling and writing..... mucho fun!

I did these pages last year but have enjoyed looking at them again.... 

I've only got the back page to do in this journal and it will be finished  - best get to it then - I am definitely a completer! 

Jumping back in!

So...... where to begin? 

Well we've moved - although that didn't go smoothly at all - the removal men didn't turn up on the 11th of June so we ended up staying in Durham for an extra night! Won't bore you with the stress details but here we are, safely ensconced in our new home in Clifton and discovering  the joys of the Calder Valley:D

My art stuff has been packed away for 2 months so I was itching to get my hands inky... which I did on Saturday as I was teaching a taster session at my most favourite art studio... Art from the Heart  Then on Monday our daughter came for a visit and whilst looking round my art room she asked if we could have a play - what can I say - I was only too delighted to oblige!

having fun!

We made an A5 sized tag ... it's not finished yet because she had to get back to York for an appointment but she did leave with very inky hands:) Always a sign of a good time!

Steph was enthralled in the whole process and can't wait to come back for more although she did say "I'll be bringing some gloves with me!" (she's a nurse and likes CLEAN hands) 

Ann and Pat came to visit bearing gifts (which I haven't photographed - bear with me - I'm not in sync yet its been a while since I blogged!) After they left I decided I'd have a little play for myself as Andrew was out. I worked in my A4 moleskin and this is how far I got. 

Many of you know my husband has just been ordained and this page is going to tell the story of my thoughts about it all - the title caption says some of what I feel! 

I'm going to leave it there for now - I've got lots of catching up to do - I've missed messing around in my art journals and now they're all unpacked they are calling out to me!

Where have I beeeen!

Well hello there! I'm putting in an appearance to let you know I'm still here :) Keeping up with the 366 art calendar challenge set by Kate - its the little bit of arty routine that's keeping me sane as I'm in the middle of packing up TWO houses ready for our move in about 7 weeks! 


That's one of the reasons I haven't been around much, visiting your lovely blogs lately..... anyhoo...


This is how the background started off.

Its been so long since I played for ME that I got carried away and forgot to take photos of the in between steps! But I did end up here, having used the Tim Holtz film strip die to make my daily journal blocks (inspired by Donna) 

Then I added images, the figure is from tumblefish as is the head  (mix and match!) Duchess words - cut from a magazine and made into a tag which I looped around the neck of the figure - especially relevant just now because I keep asking myself what I'm doing and feel as though I'm meeting myself coming back as I commute between the two houses and the new house deciding what needs doing, what's going where etc! Our three offspring (who have flown the nest) have PLENTY of junk belongings left at home and appear to have no desire to collect it - although we CAN'T throw it away you understand - they are memories.....

Anyway, there I am, stood on packed boxes  (and they are stacking up high!)  images cut from a Crowabout StudioB  download sheet - as you can see, I used the logo as a box too - I like it!)  
If I get chance (during my busy schedule, hehehe!) I may add to the page - I feel as though I rushed it  - that's because I am a completer - when I start something, I have to finish - having joined the challenge, I can't let myself miss a month if you can understand that - or just call me crazy!

Other than that, I'm still teaching Scrapclasses at the Venue in Stocksbridge and workshops at AFTH in Harrogate - this was last Saturday's workshop at AFTH.... 

At the end of the day, our art looked like this....

Donna and Gabby loved what they'd had done so much they climbed onto chairs to photograph their work from a height (Gabby's bloke is a photographer - think its rubbed off on her!) In fact, she loved it so much that she set the photo as the wallpaper for her iphone!

 Show and tell.... Gabby....

Donna....

Pam....

A small group  - although they still managed to make the sudio look like a bomb site! We had the most fabulous time - chatting and arting (and eating) and laughing and getting inky and well, you get the picture. FUN! 


Oh - and what's happened to Blogger - I haven't been away THAT long but the whole posting thing has changed! I haven't had any trouble but I can see I'm going to have to familiarize myself with it all - that will be AFTER we re-locate!