Home Sweet Home Journal Page

Here is my 2nd Journal page. A journal is supposed to reflect what you are thinking, what is important in your life at any given moment right? Well I was thinking about family and home today. Got a bit stressed with Stuart loosing a wheel key for his new car. I was fine until he started loosing it and pulling everything out to look for his lost key... me trying to tell him to stay calm, loosing his temper wouldn't solve anything yada, yada, yada! Jazz not helping by making jokes etc. so not the right time... anyway the key turned up, as I knew it would and peace was restored!
I can't believe how stressed I got and needed something to calm me down so I picked up my journal. And this is the result.
Notice the keys in my hair, all right they are not the wheel nut key he was looking for - but they are keys and symbolised the cause of the stress today :-)
Home Sweet Home are on the lips of the girl as this is what I found myself muttering sarcastically when the house was in uproar looking for said key.
Then as I started to work on the journal images of what is conceived as a perfect home jumped out of my stash to be used - so I went with it.
I loved the man and woman in the kitchen and the little saying "Knowledge is more than equivalent to Force" true words indeed!!!

So what makes a home in your opinion?

Completed Journal Page

Picture me sitting here writing this post in my blog, I have a quiet smile on my face. I feel satisfied. Here it is my 1st "proper" journal page. One that has layers and texture, doodling, and stamping, images and text all put together by me and it feels GREAT
I can't tell you the times I have looked at books and magazines and dreamed of creating my own journal just like the beautiful pages I have drooled over.
I see this as a start... looking at it I'm wondering is it too busy? does it gel? does your eye follow the page or does it look garbled? Having said that I am not despondent, far from it - so that's a start.
I really, really must sit and practise writing, different fonts etc. to express myself *laugh* as I don't know about you but it is quite scary to write on your pages... to accept your own handwriting, again something I hope to improve on with each page I do.
I used a moleskine as previously mentioned and was pleasantly surprised at how well the pages held up, considering there was a lot of wet put on the pages in the form of paints, water and medium they did a great job. I also liked the fact that the book stayed flat to work on...

Anyway Thanks for listening again, and if you have anything to say then please give me your input - I welcome it xxx

Journalling - making a start

So if you follow my blog you may recall that my word for the year was JOURNAL
With this in mind I signed up back in January to do a Journalling Online class run by Pam Carrick over on the Ning Creative workshop (if you click on the title to this post it will take you to the home page telling you about this group)
I have also joined one run by Paulette Insall this is also a Ning group. I think that by doing the 2 classes where the artists both have different styles I will learn more.
I have a moleskine and decided to use this as my first journal. The above image is the start I have made; I am pleased with the colors, they loose their vibrancy in the photo but I can look at it and see the depth of color and I like the result. I have started 3 different background pages and will see how they develop.
The Ning classes have printable information sheets and videos - worth checking out these sites if you want to do a reasonably priced online course.

Talking of online courses another NING group I belong to is Artistic Avant Garde there are courses on there currently - on is by Christy - Digital Journalling; another by Peggy Alborn, Faux Finishes... so check it out if you wish.
Online classes seem to be improving all the time and becoming more popular in the current economic climate...I am happy as it means I can learn new techniques visually and have a forum to ask questions. Classes in England are few and far between so this works well for me.

I also started to make a pendant out of bottle caps today and will share that with you when it is finished...

I am going to keep this post brief but Thank you once again for dropping by x

PW Quote Challenge

Decided to join in the Quote Challenge over on Paper Whimsy. Basically will be getting a Hilda Conkling poem to interpret every fortnight. Along with the poem Gale supplies a Collage sheet with the required elements on... you can add embellishments also and have to use another PW image not on the collage sheet.
The idea is to build up a book of 5 x 5 collages over the course of the year. As I don't have a bind it all, but do have a book that was handmade with mulberry papers I decided that it would be nice to make the collage and than mount it into the book.
So above is the collage that I came up with. The single image shows that the doors open to reveal the girl.
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I had to share this photo of snowdrops with you as they are a sign that Spring is arriving, the earth is warming and these sweet flowers are ready to show off their beauty. It has been milder over the last couple of days so making the most of this brief respite from the cold, I say brief respite becaues apparently it is going to get colder come the weekend.
As always Thank you so much for dropping by.

Here are 2 of the prizes I won in the OWOH Giveaway event, from Jennie at StampAttack and Astrid - Thank you ladies.


This spread is for an Inspirational Women RR that I am currently involved in with the I.C.E Yahoo Group
I chose Indira Gandhi, India's 1st and only woman Prime Minister.
I have also been working on spread for another RR with the I.C.E. group - Things I love being the theme, pictures to follow when it is complete.

Still doing a lot of blog hopping and discovering gems...
Best thing to do really when it is cold out, I hate cold, so being indoors is the best thing for me.
I did venture out today to the supermarket. Brought ingredients to make a Crab Pasta dish, when I got to the checkout found I had left my purse at home - nightmare! Left the food, dashed home and got purse and them prepped for the dish.
It was absolutely beautiful and so quick and easy to make.

Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday so pancakes will have to be eaten in my house, I hate the way they kitchen ends up all smoky so I cheat and buy ready made ones to put in the microwave. I love mine with just sugar and lemon, mmm delicious. What about you do you eat them in your house and if so how do you like yours?
However you have them ENJOY!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's day to you all. I hope like me you are fortunate to have shared it with the person you love.

I find it hard to believe that Stuart and I have been together for 20 years now, the time has flown and we are still happy.
I thought I would share the pictures showing us 20 years ago and now...

We went to Bluewater today, Stuart bought me a beautiful pair of boots (he knows I LOVE shoes, boots and bags.)
I bought him a Tattoo Book as when he reached 40 he had his 1st tattoo and since he has had more - so this was the perfect present for him



Whilst at Bluewater I found these sweet little eggs in John Lewis and just had to buy them. I am going to alter them and then get them posted off to special blog land friends for Easter... will you get one? watch the post nearer to Easter!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY XXXX

Box of Delights for me :-)

I wanted to share with you the Box of delights that I received from Cat A while back we were both in a Secret Sister swap on the Paper Whimsy Forum
we had different partners and Cat contacted me to ask if we could do a one on one swap, I readily agreed because I think it is fun to swap stash...



So the answer to the riddle is shown below in the pictures...


The beautiful cherub acted as Guardian for all that was within, and what a great job she did!


The ballerina gracefully danced her way out of the box, she couldn't wait to show off all the ribbons and lace, fibres and labels that were concealed inside..


This beautiful cahier is wonderful don't you think, I love the Paper Whimsy girl and the butterfly she used to decorate the cover, and what fun I will have filling this book!


A girl loves to be charmed and oh I was by these beautiful charms, the hearts, and flowers, the mini b-b-q and oh so many others, I love these..


And how about this tag that Cat decorated, didn't it turn out wonderful... and look at those beautiful ribbons, ah! they are so pretty.


and me, well I know what the cat feels like when he gets the cream...the fan came in handy as I was swooning with delight *grin*
So THANK YOU Cat for your BOX OF DELIGHTS
(There are so many items in this box, papers and labels, pegs etc. they aren't all in the photos, happy me)

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OWOH
I won... twice, two lovely items for me, how fantastic. So you are wanting to know what I won right? well I am going to tell you.
The first was a set of 15 medieval tarot rubber stamps from Astrid Yipee...!
And then I received an e mail from Jennie to say that I had won her canvas... Yippee! Yippee!
Now you may have visited these 2 ladies as part of OWOH BUT if you did not manage to then drop by and see their creativity.. When my goodies arrive I will post pics :-)
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Once again THANKS for dropping by, I really appreciate it

OWOH - THE END 2009

So the journey has reached it's end, and what a journey I have been on along with many others... travelling from one blog to another, picking up new friends on the way.
I have met fairies,hags and dolls, backpackers, artists extrordinaire from all corners of the globe.... Lisa is a STAR for organising this now annual event so magnificently - THANK YOU LISA....You are a briliant ambassador for BLOGLAND....


FIRST PRIZE

And now the end is here and the Winners have been picked. Jazz pressed the generate button for the 1st prize which went to RENEE - blog owner CIRCLING MY HEAD Congratulations to you... I feel like I have made a friend in you so was pleased for you when I checked the name beside the number and da dah it said RENEE.


2ND PRIZE


China couldn't be left out so pressed the generate button on Random.org and the name that matched the number -87 was Amber Dawn so a big round of applause to you Amber Dawn, Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and Pleased that you won my 2nd prize

TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU WHO TOOK THE TIME TO LEAVE COMMENTS AND TO INSPIRE AND ENCOURAGE ME I SAY THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
I hope to share the journey with you all again next year
THAT IS ALL FOR THIS YEAR
PEACE AND LOVE TO YOU WHEREVER YOU MAY BE AND MAY YOUR CREATIVE JUICES CONTINUE TO RUN XXXX

OWOH Extra Giveaway for the Draw

Well hello to all you happy people out there in blogland, can you believe that we are nearly at the end of the journey on the Gypsy Caravan... my cut off point is tomorrow evening at midnight GMT. So get your comments on to the post at the top of my blog.
I thought I would share these pictures of the 2nd giveaway that I am including. A small pendant with the words Cherish and Believe; as there were so many comments left on my blog - for which I am thankful, I thought it would be mean to have one person win.
So enter your name in the comments above and Good Luck

Winter sun and fun

ONE WORLD ONE HEART carries on and it introduces us to new bloggers with their own special talents.
I cam across one such blog Green Paper owned by Mary Green
What Mary likes to do is Journal pages using just glue and paper, nothing else - no embellishments, no stamps just glue and paper so I gave it a go and here is my effort. I will play with this a bit more because it was fun, Thanks Mary.


Thought I would share the picture below taken whilst walking my dog, just loved this Winter sun...

And what is snow without a snowman, this one was spotted whilst walking the dog, enjoy!

ONE WORLD ONE HEART and A little gift

TODAY'S POST.... What do we have today?

An Award, from Mary - have you visited her blog? If not you are in for a treat...Mary creates the most amazing art using animal skulls, real cicada wings, well don't let me spoil it for you go and check it out, click on her name to be transported there...
I will be passing this on, soon, it will be hard as there are so many old blogs and new ones I have found who are worthy of this award...(need to get my thinking cap on)

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This is a box, a plain old box that had a perfume set in it, you know the gift sets you get a Christmas; so I altered it as I am doing a "swap" with a friend in the States of ephemera and I thought it would be perfect to put the items in the box.
As soon as I can get to the Post Office it will be on its way.
I would like to say that the image is from Tuscan RosePatty has some beautiful images; this one is called Sally and Roscoe
I am pleased with the way it has turned out, in fact it makes me smile when I look at it... is that wrong? I call it the box of delights :-)

The snow has had me confined indoors for the most part - not a bad thing, given me a chance to catch up on little jobs, read and create.
I plan on getting more art done in the next couple of days, hope to see you here, Thanks for dropping by

What's new?

ONE WORLD ONE HEART
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OWOH is still running; if you want to enter my draw then scroll down to the 22nd January entry and leave a comment - only comments left on that date will be eligible when the draw takes place on the 12th February.... there will be more than 1 prize as there have been so many comments.... THANK YOU
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So what's new? Well it was Charlotte's birthday this week so I made her this pendant; covered the shrine in beads and used polymer clay stamped with an eye as the centre piece (hope she liked it...) had to drop it through the door as Dwain and her were off for the weekend.




And as OWOH is about friendships thought I would share the Mirror that Lorraine made me for Christmas - have I shown you this already - if I have forgive me but my brain is mushy these days lol

Other news... well I was supposed to go to the dentists today for the next stage of my implant work, the part where it meant I could count down to getting rid of the denture... but guess what IT SNOWED!!! and when I say snowed I mean snowed! I forget the last time I saw REAL SNOW - you know the type that is all fluffy and powdery and DEEP... (normally I am in Spain when it snows)..... My kids Jazz and China are absolutely loving it; considering they are 18 and 16 respectively and this is the 1st snow of any real proportions that they remember, it is a significant day.







Snow is GOOD when it is clean, and soft and powdery. I know that it will turn to ice then dirty slush soon - but hey I can enjoy it for today (and tomorrow) by all accounts as it is - PICTURE PERFECT...
I am going to head into my art room now and see if I can finish of my latest creations, will post pictures when completed - I am quite excited with my current project :-)

A birthday gift and a poem...

A while back I went browsing in a second hand book shop and found a trilogy of books The Poet's Year An Anthology. It was published by Cambridge University Press in 1923. Anyway as the title hints at there is a poem for each day of the year so I thought I would share the poem for today with you if you want to stay a while and read it:-
Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they,
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day
Storms sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
WORDSWORTH


I love to watch for the new snowdrops and this poem
reminds me of that flower waiting to push through the
earth to herald warmer weather....
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It was the birthday of one of my friends today - so I made her this shrine necklace.
I love the shrine kit which I got from Retro Art Cafe I used one of my favourite Paper Whimsy girls in the centre, added some lace and swavorski crystals and there you have it.

As I have had so many comments on my One World, One Heart post I have decided to make another pendant (possibly one like this) as a 2nd prize in the draw. You are welcome to leave a comment about this post here but if you want to go into the draw and haven't already entered then go to the post on the 22nd January titled ONE WORLD ONE HEART.
Thanks for dropping by... xxx