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!

April is upon us

Can you believe it - four months into the year already!

Here are my pages for Kate's art calendar challenge - seeing as we've had an unseasonably warm March here in the UK, it inspired me to use bright sunny colours , although now I hear its going to turn cold - but hey ho.... C'est la vie - my page is here to stay!

This is how it started out. I used Dylusions paint (no longer available but watch THIS space) and spray inks - LOVE the vibrancy of these colours!

I used a She Art text stamp and Rangers coloured archival ink in random places...

...and loved how I was able to utilise that randomness - see its here in the roof of one of the houses - don't you just love when that happens?

This is how the whole page came together...

My mind is occupied with our forthcoming move in June and we get the keys to the house this month hence my use of the houses (from Dylusions 'Right up your Street' plate)

The banner is also Dylusions - 'Bags of Bunting' plate - I feel as though it adds a kind of party feel to the page - and it certainly suits how I'm feeling right now - kinda breezy and free :)

And here's March - just got to complete my last entry which I shall do at the end of today!

That was the day that was....

Well I've had a great day, met some lovely folk, ate some cake, made some art, sang and been sang TO by a talking reindeer wall mounted plaque named Archibald... yes I have been to my little corner of heaven where only the strangest but bestest fun is to be had!

Fabulous Kaz Hall (what an eminent surname!) hehehe.... we are arty relations!

Christine was able to pay a visit to HER favourite place too after being under the weather for a while

Hmmmm ..... meet Archibald!

Most important person of the day (as every visitor will tell you) and provider of beverages galore, Bezzie Su

...who takes her work really seriously - Kaz was so pooped after teaching her session that Su had to feed her!

I didn't mange to take any more photos but you can get an idea of the fun and frivolities that make up Preview Day at Art from the Heart... Kate was there teaching and demo-ing,

it was great to see Ann and Pat, I had a lovely chat with Ruth and Irene and Deborah paid their first visit to Dy's studio - what a treat they had looking around the shop!

I know how they feel, I always come away from there with a smile on my face! It's like going to a party.... and indeed, I am going to leave you and take to my bed for the night to recover :)

Are You coming????

It's Preview Day at Art from the Heart this coming Saturday - will you be there? I hope you can make it! I can promise you a great day out :) There will be chance to view the forthcoming workshops for the next few months and if you book a workshop on the day you get 10% off - bargain!

Also you get to eat cake, drink tea/coffee and chat with like minded folk... just the kind of thing we like to do on a Saturday!

AND there are taster workshops going on throughout the day with Dyan, Kate, Kaz and little old me :)

Here's a sneaky peek at some of my projects....

I'm including some of the techniques I've recently learned from fabulous Dina Wakley you know what the Chinese proverb says .... I am told and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand...

it's the best way to learn !

fun, fun, fun!
See you there!

The Dina story

My recent weekend spent with these two lovely (if slightly crazy!) ladies was a little bit of heaven...

...as you can see, amongst all the art making, much fun was had...

Dina is a fabulous tutor, her project for the weekend was a book, chock full of arty goodness and techniques galore... she showed us a fabulous way of stamping onto tissue and pasting the tissue over areas that had perhaps too much texture to get a crisp image from stamping in the normal way - 'twas indeedy very genius!!!

She taught us how to draw - the Dina way, using a magic pencil - available here

Now this is very different to the lady I drew with Chris (see previous post) but I LOVED doing this ... the others said she looks like Gillian Anderson (of Xfiles fame)

Our pages were full of paint, layers and texture, we used pan pastels, texture paste, gesso and so much more I can't begin to remember! the process was so enjoyable and some of the backgrounds I made were so lovely I didn't want to cover them with anything.... I did of course because another mantra that I have learned from Dina this weekend is "Don't fall in love with your backgrounds".... I shall store that away along with the first ever thing I learned from Dina which was "Remember the white space"!!! - I'm still working on that :)

This was another face I drew - yes I know it may not be perfect in the eyes of some artists (having said that I once went to the Tate Gallery in London and was bemused to see a whole hall the size of a football pitch given over to a crack in the floor that was described as art!!!) So yes this is MY art!

I love the oversized lips and decided to highlight them by colouring them in using inktense pencils... which from here on in shall be known as 'inktencils' so named by my humourous friend Ann

So Andy has named this page in my Dina book ' The Mick Jagger page' I loved loved loved the weekend and when Dina returns to AFTH, so shall I ... I recommend you do too!