Art Journal meanderings ...

So I escaped tidying the studio for a couple of hours today by going to the Bridge (wine bar/ cafe kind of a place) & playing in my art journal ... this is what I did today :


I like the idea of adding tags, pockets, doorways etc into my journals, similar to the altered books that I do ...there will be many more in this journal I think !
I've actually just about finished the studio tidy up now & it's Soooo much better .. I actually feel like creatuing again ... I can't work in a mess, I love a tidy desk lol :D
So hopefully now this is done much artwork will follow !
thanks for stopping by x

What I get up to on a 'day off'

So the kids were back at school ... DH was back at work & I went out with my art journal, It was SO right after weeks of being stuck at home through illness etc ... So to cut a short story even shorter here are some of my pages .. some are complete some are not but thought I'd share the process with you anyways :o)
*Think we've still got a few places left on the Art journaling from scratch workshop next week if you fancy having a go at this fab & fun playtime ..see the link at the top of the page for workshops for more information :o)
Thanks for stopping by x

Happy New Year ....

I'm finally back in my studio after 4 out of 5 of us having Flu, Christmas & New Year ...My mojo took a backseat for a while, but today I have been back playing & it's a GOOD feeling !
I've been working on a mixed media, beeswax canvas and I've also begun designing my own art journal sheets ...this is partly what's on the desk, also one of my art journals being prepped ready to take out to a cafe tomorrow once the last of the kids returns to school, I wanted to go before they broke up but we were all ill, so I've been waiting three weeks & can't wait any longer ... I NEED to go lol :D

Thanks for stopping by, sorry it's a short & sweet one, but some is better than none I reckon lol :D x

The 12 tags of Christmas workshop ...

Well, what can I say, I had the most lovely group of ladies to this workshop, we got creative,we got messy, we laughed, we even had a bit of christmas singing from some quarters lol :D Most of all we had 2 full days of FUN ... thanks girls you were all stars xx
Here are some of the pictures from the weekend ...

This is Friday afternoon, table all set up, kit bags out ..all ready to go


on this picture we have from front to back Sharon, June, Kate, June and Glynis ...


On this picture we have left to right .. Lynda, Chris, Bernice, Miriam and Carole.


and this is how the table was looking at the end of the first day ....



So, day 2 and this is Sharon and June with Kate lurking in the background :o)


This is Lynda & Chris ... busy working hard :o)


Can you tell we're on Tag 12 by this point ? lol ...


And here are my original 12 Tags of Christmas that we worked from ...

Thanks to everyone who came and took part, I had a blast, hope you did too :o)x

Back to Blogland, Christmas Tags & Art Journaling.

Finally I've made it back, The snow is lying thick & white on the ground, the kids are off school, the kitchen is semi-complete, deadlines have been met and the Christmas shopping has at least been started !
Today I've been getting myself into gear for the forth coming 12 tags of Christmas Tag workshop, thought I perhaps ought to plan the tags lol, so here's a sneak peek at some of the ones that are done/ partially complete ...

I watched Invictus last night (film starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela) ... it was a very lovely and food for thought kind of a film, and the title of the film is taken from a poem by William. E Henley which the whole film revolves around, the last two lines of the poem I love very much, so I thought I would add the poem to an art journal for safe keeping. I haven't finished doodling etc yet, but this is it so far ...

AWOL

Just a quick note to say that I'm sorry I've not been around much the last couple of weeks, Since the NEC I have been having a new kitchen fitted at home, but we have had to completely gut it, dig 12" out of the floor and basically start from scratch, we've had plumbers, electricians, plasterer, joiner etc etc in & out of the house, some of the time we've had no heating, water or more importantly no electric or broadband connection hence no blogging ! ... we're still a way from being finished but most of the messy work is done so I'm hoping I'll be back to the blog (& my crafty desk) next week ... so I'll see you there x

all the fun of the show ...

So, Jamie has very kindly sent me some pictures from Sunday at the show, here is the configurations box that I did :

And this is me & mum, squashed into the back of the landrover with all the stands and stock ready to go home on sunday night lol ...

It wasn't too bad actually, but it's a good job there wasn't anymore, poor Sharon was surrounded by stock & stands in the front as well :D
Anyhow,just a quick post today, catch up with you for woyww tomorrow ! (better get putting all that stash away so you can see my desk !)

Well, what a fantastic time we had !

What can I say, the show was brilliant, had SOOO much fun demo'ing for the four days, we started off the mornings using Tim Holtz distress inks then we did a couple of hours over the lunch time demo'ing Alcohol inks, followed by some art journaling with Claudine Hellmuth Studio line paints and also the Melt Pot, the problem was that we started off with over 700 distress inks on Thursday morning, by saturday evening we just had about a dozen left, and by last night it had dwindled to 3, So we had to keep finding things to demonstrate, I used the blending tools on the spinner and sold out of blending tools, I used alcohol inks, we ran out of Blending solution, I used the melt pot and we sold out of those too lol... it wasn't because we didn't take much, we did, we just sold A LOT, which is great but by Sunday I was down to filling a configurations box that Tim Holtz produces, I used the Tissue tape & filled it with all kinds of trinkets, the result was that we only had a few of those left by the end of the show too ! ... But I had a wonderful time with my Brother Jamie who owns Artist Trading Post, My sister in law Sharon & my Mum as we all worked together for the 4 days. One of the highlights of the show was meeting people who either follow my blog, I know through UK scrappers or have traded ATC's with previously (I always take a small stash of ATC's to shows, you never know who might want to trade !) SO if you came to see us at the show thank you, if you spent your hard earned cash with us, thank you Thank you :D :D
I will post a picture of the completed configurations box as soon as Jamie gets a chance to send one across to me (Poor Sharon & Jamie have the long task of emptying the stash and stands out of the car and putting them all back into the shop .. & in this awful weather too :( )
So I'll leave you with a picture of me demo'ing (or should that be playing ?) at the show x

WOYWW and other stories ...

What's on your workdesk wednesday ... Well to be honest it would be easier to tell you what wasn't on my workdesk today, everything is pretty much being used on different samples and it all really needs tidying up, which I may have to do so that I can find everything to pack for the NEC later on today. If you haven't seen the post below you won't know that I'm heading off to the NEC for 4 glorious days of demo'ing .. I can't wait !!! :D So I need to sort out everything I need to take, get it packed up and ready to go. If you are heading to the NEC come and see me at the Artist Trading Post Stand (G50) Make sure you tell me who you are & that you read my blog, you never know I might even make you a tag lol :D
I also made this bracelet to go with my name badge (see yesterdays post) I had lot's of bits hanging about & decided that they would all go together perfectly :o)
I don't know when I'll get round to you all, NEC is thursday to sunday & we're also having the kitchen gutted starting at the end of this week so I shall be emptying it today .. so it may not be until the beginning of next week, but I'll do my best x
If your wondering why I'm sharing this with you, head over to Julia Queen of the desks

Oops I did it again !

Sorry, sorry , sorry ..AWOL again !But here I am back at the computer after lot's of family time, adventures in London (twice in a week) 1/2 term, plus loads of hard work lol .. that's if you can call creating projects for magazines and new workshops hard work ! :D
I've also been busy getting things ready for the NEC, working out what I shall be demo'ing for 4 days, we go on Thursday this week and are there until Sunday .. Do come and see us if your there, we will be on stand G50. Got lot's of lovely stash on the Artist Trading post stand this year, I'll be demo'ing distress inks and re-inkers, Claudine Hellmuth studio line paints (art journal backgrounds and beads) and Alcohol inks techniques. I can't wait 4 whole days of playing :D
I made this badge for myself to wear ...

(just incase I forget who I am :o) )
and then there's a sneak peek at the beads I shall be making using Claudines Range of products too ..

Next week we should hopefully have the new workshops online, the samples are being worked on as we speak !
So I'd better get back to it, no time for slacking lol ... speak soon x

More Art Journaling pages ... & a sneak peek

Well I spent a happy couple of hours in a local bar/cafe journaling and drinking coffee :o)
(I did manage to have a bowl of their handmade chips too , well a girls got to keep her energy levels up :D)
The results of todays meandering are below, some are just backgrounds ready for stuff, some are 1/2 done waiting for either inspiration or more time to finish them & I think 1 or 2 may be finished (then again I might change my mind on that !)





then there are sneak peeks of some of the prep work for my next lot of workshops :



These include an Altered Scrapbook, where we combine scrapbooking, altered books & art journaling all in one ! .. and a mini ATC art journal book ... lot's more to come, keep an eye on Workshops here

WOYWW ... a pile of Tags

Good Morning .. thanks for stopping by on this Woyww, infact thank you to everyone who has stopped by during the last week, there have been some lovely comments :D x
Today my desk is busy with tags as I have a pile (18 of them) sample stamps that I am trying out .. have to say that I REALLY like these ! So I thought what better way to try them than distressing lot's of tags ( I do this by staring at them in a harsh way) and then I add some Tim Holtz inks :D
I only had about 30 minutes to play last night, so am looking forward to some more time this morning with them !
If you want to join in the fun and show the world your desk you can sign up here :
Julia Queen of the desks
Right I'd better off and get the kids all sorted for school ... I'll pop round to yours when I've got the chores all done ! :D x

Art Journals & Canvas's

So many things started .. A LOT to finish lol :D ... still that's how I like it.
I have lot's of journal pages ready to do something with, so here they are in their unfinished / only just started state ...





Then there is a selection of Canvas's that I'm in the middle of working on :



And then there is this mountboard canvas that I painted first and then used encaustic wax on to finish it (yes I did say Finish !) lol :D



I will be sure to post pictures as & when each project is completed !
thanks for stopping by x

Art Journal Workshop .. What a FUN day !

Well it's been and gone again, another Art Journaling workshop, A FAB group of ladies and a lot of brilliant pages later & I'm back relaxing with a glass of wine lol :D
The girls (Becky, Sharon, Sarah, Patti & Emma) were lovely to work with all day, bags of enthusiasm & a willingness to try whatever lol :D .. Thanks for making my life such a breeze girls x
Here's some pictures from the day
The first one is when I'd all set up, before they arrived :


Here's Sharon, Sarah & Emma working hard ...


And here is Patti & Emma busy creating ...



And a few sneaky peeks at the work in progress :