The Night begins to turn your head around...

Andy and I met an old chum that we haven't seen for 30 years last night. It brought memories flooding back. Do you ever wonder sometimes what happened to the people in your past?
We were part of a gang that used to travel all over the country to all nighter's and all dayers, dancing to northern soul.... if you're a lover of soul, you know that the music beats with the rhythm of your heart!


We did some catching up and the news we exchanged caused much reflection, made me know how much I've changed as a person... and thankful for the direction my life has taken....there will be lots of art journal pages to come out of this encounter!
But here's Martin (aka as Stan as his name is Martin Stanley!) We re-connected last year when we celebrated another friend's 50th birthday at a soul event. He's the most adorable chap you could wish to meet, truly, we have been able to pick up where we left off with him.

And here's my hubby dancing to "Man of Value" - very fitting 'cos he is!

In my other world, guess where I went recently? Had a fabby day at Dy's making some fabby tags - she asked all of us which were our favourites, of course the correct answer is "all of them!"

Secretly though, I'm drawn to the ones with the Santa's on! and the one with the reindeer, oh and I like the one with the lantern on because it reminds me of Narnia (I love those books by C.S.Lewis!) and then there's the beeswax one.... see its hard to choose, so I guess the correct answer is "all of them!"

The ladies at my Friday scrapbook class at the Craft Box finished their "12 Days" project and all declared they have loved it. Don't ask me why I didn't get a picture of their lovely work! I took photo's during the class and forgot at the end!

Beautiful sisters Helen and Deborah

A work in progress... tags by Karen ...... and here you can see Christine triple embossing her title tag.... everyone loved doing this and it is magic watching as the utee begins to melt....

My most favourite thing though, is my Mum gets so much pleasure attending these classes, she has always been able to 'create' ..... sewing, baking, magically making things out of nothing(!) In recent years though, she has had a few health problems but she has such tenacity and always keeps going... now that gives me a fitting ending for this post... a great old northern soul song ... 'You gotta keep on keeping on, no matter how hard it is... A great mantra for those hard days in our lives eh?

TTFN

You GOTTA see this!

A friend sent this to me via email and I just had to pass it on to my artistic blogger friends.... It is pretty amazing art - its a clip from UKRAINE'S GOT TALENT!
A young Ukrainian girl tells an entire story by moving sand around on a table!
She uses nothing but sand and her hands to create these images.

To help you understand the images, this is what a youtube viewer wrote about the video;
The story is about World War II and its influences on Love, families and on the life of 'common' people who were just victims: they either died or lost each other. They are crying because they understand it from their point of view: they got invaded and pressured (Ukraine as well) first by the Nazi, then by the Soviet Union (they 'only' had total control on people). Their life changed so much! Nearly the same happened in all Eastern countries.
Amazing artistic talent! She won!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo"

Work(shop) and Therapy!

I had a lovely time meeting new people when I did a workshop in Stocksbridge recently....

There was some very talented people in the room, one of the ladies, Gaynor, was a Tutor herself, she makes jewelery and I think I might have to attend one of her sessions as the bead chain she wore on her wrist looked pretty amazing...wish I'd taken a photo to show you!

We used the new Blonde Moments papers (yes again!) the 6x6 pad this time and we are making the box which I posted earlier.

A bit of careful cutting out......

A bit of careful tearing....

And a whole lot of mess.... but this mess is strangely tidy don't you think!!

Madeline is a stand up crafter....

And here is the youngest member of the group, Emily who came along with her Mum and was an absolute treasure.
The box is an ongoing project so I'll post pictures when they are all finished.

I'm being brave now and posting a journal page... I shall add a bit more to it I think, but I am beginning to feel more comfortable as I play around with different styles...I think that's my

problem, I'm a bit eclectic in my art style so try to incorporate everything I like!

I liked this one though so you get to see it! It incorporates a Teesha Moore style border and Dyan Reavely inspired doodling. I shall keep playing around because I have fun doing it and this

art is for me so its OK if no-one else likes it! A favourite saying of Andy's is "Enjoy the journey!" So that's what I'm doing.... exploring as I go along - it's great fun, you should try it!

THE Book!

Instead of doing scrapbook pages in my Friday classes at the Craft Box we have been making this '12 days of Christmas' mini book... Many people have admired it. I used the gorgeous Blonde Moments 'All I want for Christmas' range of papers.... have I told you that I love them? (tee hee!)
Seriously though, I do love the colours and their versatility... I've made some great Christmas cards with them too.


What a lovely group they are... all very hard working, see them all on task here!
That lady with the white hair in the top left hand corner is my Mum - 78 and still loves to create! I like to think I'll be like that in 30 years time. (Oops, spilling the beans here!)

Mum, Deborah and Helen (sisters) Christine, Irene, Cynthia and Christine.

When other people saw the book, they wanted to make one too so Lynn put on an evening workshop ...

Diane (my sister - creating runs in the family) Virginia, (the speediest crafter I know) Jess (who hogged the biscuits all evening) and Sue right at the end.

There was lots to do so everyone got to work straight away.

Jan and Margaret watch intently as I suggest stamping ideas for their tags..

The paint was out and everyone got messy.... Julie was going to a fancy dress party the following day so wore rubber gloves to keep those nails clean! Karen just got to work - she really enjoyed the project.

And Ann.... well Ann is a bit of an enigma! She's so funny even when she doesn't mean to be... which can be a real gift.... Here is Lynn helping her to triple emboss the title tag.

There were some new ladies (to me anyway - they came from Lynn's card classes) on this workshop and I enjoyed meeting new people....I had some great feedback, which is always encouraging, but the best thing about workshops for me, is the sense of camaraderie and well being they provide for many people, I'm thinking of my Mum as I write this, she loves being part of that Friday scrapbooking class - it's a new lease of life for her. Belonging to a crafting community does so much more than teach new techniques or give new ideas (great though that is!) - don't under estimate its value!

Had mucho fun this afternoon making some mosaic tiles. Reason? because I needed some art therapy! I paid my first visit in five years to the Doctors this week and ended up having to have a load of tests. Its taken me 10 years to get over my mistrust of Doctors due to some health bungles that nearly cost my husband his life (don't misunderstand me here - I know there are good Doctors - its just my irrational fears)
Anyway I felt a bit out of sorts, so I put all my college work to one side and decided to play. Lynn often buys me a book and earlier this year presented me with this beauty by Laurie Mika, it's been a favourite night time read for months so today I intended to rise to the challenge...


So after a bitty sort of morning with a visit from my sister and a few odd jobs (whilst still in my PJ's) I set to gathering supplies to make some mosaic tiles.... how brave am I?
Of course the trusty old IKEA mirror would make an ideal base...



It was unknown territory for me but the hardest part was conditioning the sculpey... it made my hands ache a very lot!
After rolling out the clay, I cut out tiles in varying shapes and sizes, stamped into some of the tiles and made patterns with a thickish knife (not the blade edge) - I don't have a clay blade.... yet (but Christmas is coming!)
I embedded a few things into some of the tiles before baking. So far so good.


Out came the Jo Sonja acrylic paints...

And off I went...

The frustrating thing was being interrupted by the telephone.. it pulled me out of my art reverie
and the paint dried up while I was on the 'phone so I ended just sat there looking at my work so far and wondering whether to pack up or carry on when Andy came to say he needed to get out (He's been busy working on a report for a charity) so he said he'd take me out for a frappucino at Starbucks (delish!)

I'm quite happy with the tiles so far, its a bit tricky getting the paint neat on such small pieces but for a first attempt I'm pleased.

I'll leave you with this.....

www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

I'm still flying high after the news of our daughter's engagement, she rang on Tuesday morning to tell me her cheeks were aching because she couldn't stop grinning!

Well I've had a free hour this afternoon so I thought I'd post some pictures of my recent creations...
Here is the tree I painted at Dyan's (it has been nabbed already!)
I so enjoyed this - the shading technique took a bit of practise but I mastered it in the end and was quite pleased with my result...

The other side....

And yes, I did that shading. A simple touch that makes all the difference!

I've had a little play around with the Viva paints. They are great for adding texture to your work.

I love the colours of this - Autumn shades

The following 'photos are of the Artsycraft weekend I went to recently - Leandra and Lin asked us to wait before posting on our blogs as there were 2 weekends and they didn't want to spoil the anticipation for the 2nd weekenders.

Gill and I arrived Friday night, booked in and checked out our room before heading over the road for a Chinese meal. Ann (aka the flutterbycrafter) and Jane joined us. I was the only one to attempt eating my meal with the chopsticks - didn't last long - the food was going cold before I could get it in my mouth!

Ann and Jane had arrived earlier in the day and had polished off a bottle (or two) of wine before

they joined us! Can you tell?

We met up with Christine (I wish I'd taken a 'photo of her work - she was really adventurous mixing the colours) I first met Christine at AFTH

Would you believe it - there were two Sandra's and we were both on the same table!

In between the main project, which was a clock on a canvas, we made a couple of mini projects too. (Confession - I haven't finished them!)

But here is the clock.... we used the TSS metal along with the Viva paints. We worked in sessions and put the whole thing together on the Sunday....

A close up of some of the metal work...

And some of the paint work ... we stamped into the terra paint with Leandra's new tick and tock stamps (Bought a few as there was an offer on over the weekend - well you can't pass up an offer can you?)

The venue was De Vere Hotel New Port Pagnell....I first visited here nine years ago at a Bonanza event with friends Jane, Joy and of course my buddy Shelley... its a convenient set up - the work rooms were on the same level as the restaurant and there's a sort of relaxing space where you can get free refreshments anytime you want.
Do you think Gill looks a bit worse for wear?

And last but not least, I have to include Lynn who booked me onto the weekend as a surprise for my birthday.She didn't arrive until the early hours of Saturday morning as she'd just flown back from Italy. She had a heavy cold but soldiered on all weekend...... all that creating did take its toll though - she slept in the car nearly all the way home

Chivalry is not Dead!

Just a quickie post. On Friday night, Alastair, our daughter's boyfriend called to say could he come for a visit but that we mustn't let Steph know. We thought it could be something to do with a Christmas present for her. Oh what a delightful surprise we had! Al formally asked Andrew for our daughter's hand in marriage! He told us that he was going up to his parents' the following day to get his grandmother's engagement ring for Steph. It was so very romantic - I just loved it.

We are thrilled - Al is a lovely chap and so right for Steph.

Now I've got to get myself in shape - I'm going to be the bride's mother!