Leeds Paper Dolls Summer Retreat

My Birthday was doubly special this year, as not only did I have a lovely pre-birthday meal with John, and a pre-pre birthday meal with my sister Dawn and her husband, I also got to go away for a weekend at the seaside with my scrapbooking pals! Unbeknown to me, the lovely Kirsty had baked me a gorgeous cake and everyone sang to me...maybe it's not so bad being 51, after all!
Knowing my love of dressing up, Janet and Lesley were kind (mad!) enough to join me on Saturday as we all dressed up in 1950's frocks and headed for Whitby, where we paddled in style (until the waves got us!) and then had a wonderful fish and chip supper before heading back to the cottage for wine and chatting, and scrapbooking too.
I made my own "Smash!" book, and the other girls all followed suit, maybe we will become known as the Leeds Smashers! Anyway, I've loved writing and painting in my book, sort of a mixture of a scrapbook, art journal and diary.
Yesterday, I decorated the inside front cover with a collage figure, inspired by a fabulous book called "Collage Couture" by Julie Nutting; I can highly recommend it if you want to have a go; easier than it looks and the results look really good, even if I do say so myself!! Here is my finished page, hope you like it...

RAF blues

sorry been AWOL for a while, and haven't done any crafting either. I've spent the last few weeks worrying about, and praying for, Nick, as he waited to see if he would be one of the pilots that the RAF decided to get rid of. In their wisdom, they have sacked a third of all the trainee pilots, and we found out on Monday that our wonderful son is one of them. Despite being head of the RAF cadet section at school, receiving a sixth form scholarship from the RAF, gaining his private pilots license through another scholarship, and being awarded a scholarship for the most promising cadet in the country even BEFORE going into the RAF, it seems this wasn't enough. So what is? Who knows. We are devastated for him, as it is all he has dreamed of since he was a young boy in primary school. No idea what comes next, but I will keep you posted. If I did any art journalling at the moment, I think I'd need a LOT of black paint!

Tim Holtz Day at Art From The Heart

Well, the long-awaited day arrived, and I could hardly contain myself waiting for the school bell to ring at quarter to one yesterday, which meant I could finally set off to Harrogate for an afternoon with Tim Holtz. Dyan had persuaded him to come to England, and I am so thankful that she did! We learnt so much, my head was spinning and I didn't know which new product to try first! 4 hours of staining, spritzing, stamping, sanding (why do all crafty skills begin with 'S'?!) flew by, and we all went home with our own Artful Journals...and a whole heap of goodies, too!
Here are some of the afternoon's highlights...

Even the ticket for the class was special....Dyan had made them in her own unique style, and then proceeded to make each one individual by doing a different doodle on Tim's face for each persons ticket, while we were busy making our journals! Mine has Tim wearing a pirate eye-patch, and a few missing teeth!
I'm so glad I was able to go, and I'll treasure my journal....especially as I got Tim to sign it for me!

Project 12

Just finished putting together my first LO for Project 12. It was trickier than I expected, mainly because my camera went AWOL for most of January...finally found it in the boot of my car just in time (which John found hilarious, given that my boot is about 2' wide!) It was lurking in my recycled carrier bags...
The LO was fun to do, it's the first time I've worked from a sketch and I really enjoyed it. I think because I am currently so stressed about poor Nick that the sketch enabled me to do a LO without thinking too much...good job, as my brain is currently having a meltdown!
If you fancy joining in, the details can be found by clicking the link opposite.
Here are my finished pages...

Art Journalling

Well, I've made numerous attempts at art journalling, since I attended a weekend course with the lovely Dyan at Art from the Heart last spring. However, none of my pages seemed to look right, and I keep giving up then having another go! Yesterday, I finally made a page I'm happy to share.....prompted I think by the sheer rage, anger and frustration I feel at the moment, after being told by our lovely son Nick that he will learn next week if he is going to be made redundant....this, after 60 weeks gruelling training with the RAF, and passing out as a Pilot Officer just before Christmas. How can the RAF justify doing this to such fine young men, just to save money? Why spend all that on their training, indeed continue to recruit, and yet still make such a short sighted, devastating decision that will wreck so many young lives?
Anyway, I will get off my soapbox for a moment and show you the page.
It started life a few months ago like this...

It was done with very sloppy watercolours and a bit of twinkle H2O's, which I let drip down the page. It didn't turn out like I wanted, so I just left it.
Yesterday, I took it with me to Leeds Paper Dolls and was thumbing through the Times Educational Supplement colour magazine (no, I'm not a reader, but the magazine delivered to school has some great images in!), when I came across this article, which summed up how I felt perfectly...

It looked a bit lost on the page, so I drew round the image and caption with a water soluble oil pastel crayon that Gill had told me she loved using...except I didn't know how to use them! It looked a bit grainy and insipid, and I'd forgotten to bring my paintbrush, so tried using a wet wipe...wow! I love how the oil just darkened and merged into a solid colour, I'll definitely be using them more often now, in fact I think they're my new favourite thing!
Finally, I wrote down all my anger, and this is how it ended up. Hope you like it x

Scrapbook 2010 finished at last!

Well, my December pages for 2010 are finally finished, I hope you like them!

I've also been busy this weekend making a book of my home, I spent a great day at Dyan's Art from the Heart craft emporium (! Heaven for me, Hell for the bank balance!). Dyan taught us how to put the book together, then I spent most of yesterday adding all the tags, pictures and other bits and bobs. It's my new favourite book now!

Finally, I just found out that one of my December pages in the collage above, has been published on a blog I follow about the adventures of Monkey. Wow, I feel famous! Here is the link...
http://mumsmonkey.blogspot.com/2011/01/were-calendar-boys.html
Thank you Monkey, for letting me use your photo AND blogging about it, too. I am honoured!

Project 12

Well, having almost completed "Document 2010", I have been looking for a new challenge. I really enjoyed watching my 2010 album take shape, and it's great to look back now and see a permanent record of our year. For 2011 though, I wanted something a bit different, and a bit less than 4 pages every month! I've now found the perfect challenge, called "Project 12" (see the link on the right if you'd like to have a go). It's a great idea, with 1 sketch of a double layout provided for you each month, so all you have to do is add your photo's and choose which yummy papers you want to use. I'm really looking forward to it, and hope to add more journalling too, as I think that's what helps to bring the photos to life.
Alongside that, I'm hoping to progress more with my art journal, as I haven't had the confidence to paint or draw much, and when I do, I always think the results are rubbish. So 2011 will be the year I have a bit more confidence to have a go, and hopefully learn some new skills on the way.
So keep watching!!