Clearing my head....

I decided today that I need to clear my head to enable me to get crafting. So to do this I had to once again organise my craft room - I bought more storage boxes with drawers; I CANNOT work in my room if it is in mess, if the stuff in the cupboards is not in order then I can't function - hence the reason I need to clear my head.
My sister had visited from Devon earlier in the year and did a fab job of organising my stuff, but unfortunately, or fortunately for me I have acquired more stuff so I had to rearrange certain stuff and re- label containers.

The paper images I have from artchix studio, paper whimsy now have there own storage area; I also have some lovely images from b-muse (www.b-muse.com) and tuscan rose (www.tuscanrose.com) and they too are housed in their own drawers.

The hardest part is going to be sorting all the beads,ribbons,buttons, bows etc. into their own compartments but hey if I persevere it is possible - what do they say on the ad "impossible is nothing".

Got to make a few asian atc's for a swap and get them in the post this week - looking forward to that.

I love the friends I have made on my yahoo groups and would like to say a big hi to Charline, who has moved over here from the States and I wish her much happiness and laughter.
Carol Stocker and Caryl H another 2 fab ladies and Linda MF and Angie, you all make my days brighter - there are others and I am going to update my fave blog lists to include the ladies to whose blogs I subscrbe.
The www has a wealth of lovely ladies....

Check out my Guestbook!

And the Bride wore pink - she was stunning

I just thought I would share with you the Bride and Groom - Toni and Steve as she got married in pink which is unusual but hey did she look FANTASTIC!!!!

Hope they have many happy years together xxxx
Others in pictures are mothers of the happy couple and Steves 2 girls who were fabulous bridesmaids along with Toni's sister

Flowers and the cat

I received these beautiful autumnal flowers from Bruce and Trudy - they went to France for the weekend and Bill and H came to stay, these are my Thank You flowers. As they live in the Midlands I thought I would post to my blog so they could see them.
The vase is just crying out for me to "alter" it at some point - nothing is safe!!!! if my kids were to sit still long enough I would probably try and alter them.

My cat seemed to enjoy the sunshine sitting on the sill so I thought she made a nice addition to the scene.

My Omaha ATCs from Carol

At last I have had a chance to upload photos of ATCs sent by Carol to me in our swap.
The sepia ATC is a mosaic of "The Old Market" in downtown Omaha - I love the way Carol has cut this up and them re mounted it with spaces; to finish she has put a script transparency over the top and then added the Key to the city - really neat!

The second ATC has images of the old and new of Omaha with lots of lovely embellishments. The wording says "Omaha" comes from the Indian tribe of the same name and means Above All others on a Stream.
So there you have them my lovely ATCs.

Happiness Is....

I entered into the www.artchixstudio.com Lottery with the theme set by Gina of Happiness Is...well my Happiness was compounded today when I opened my e mail box to see that I had randomly been drawn as the winner - how cool is that, how lucky am I :-)
I then had to set the theme for the next lottery and I decided on "The year I was born", self explanatory make an image with artchix pic included depicting an event from the year you were born....I shall keep you posted as to how that goes, hope a lot of people enter.

I am so looking forward to receiving my ATCs from the other participants. Mind you I hope the post men sort out their problems and that the current strike action ends soon (we had no post Thursday and Friday, none expected today and tomorrow and more strikes forecast if resolutions not met). The downside to the strikes is the inability to send receive mail, therefore no internet shopping possible - it is like having your arm cut off.

1st ATC SWAP

THANK YOU to Carol Stocker http://www.spiritsjourneydesigns.blogspot.com
for inviting me to do a 1:1 swap with her based on where we live.
I did not want to post the images of the ATCs I created for her until she had received them; this evening I had an e mail to say that they had arrived in the U S of A so now I will show them to you.

As they say in Books - THE END!!!!!

 
 
 
 


So there you have it, all the pages from the book that has taken me quite some time - but I got there in the end....

Just about there now - hang in there!!!!

 
 
 
 

Can you take it??? even more pictures!!!

 
 
 
 

Here are some more pictures of Wedding Book

 
 
 
 

More pictures of Wedding Book

 
 
 
 

Hooray it's completed - THAT!! Wedding book

 
 
 
 



At last I can share my wedding book with you all, I am so pleased that I have completed it - Wedding on Saturday.
Maybe now I will believe in myself and use the Paper Whimsy and Artchix images I have to do something for the groups. Have to get over the fact that both groups have such talented artists - but anyway I have made this with love for the happy couple and hope you enjoy looking at it

Wedding Guest Book

Apologies for neglecting my blog, this entry will be brief but I felt I should post an entry to explain my lengthy absence.
As you may know from previous blog entries I have been working on a Wedding Guest Book, well believe it or not the Wedding is nearly upon my - 29th September to be precise. So for the reason I have been concentrating on getting it completed. I have enjoyed doing this project, but it is time consuming. Once it is done (I hope to have it completed this weekend) I shall concentrate on other projects, using my Paper Whimsy and Artchix images to name a couple of things. Also looking forward to doing some jewellery making ( a new avenue for me inspired by Carol at Ingeniously Creative) watch this space in the future.
Sue asked me to write about my summer holidays so if I get a chance I will. Thats it for now.

So what is new then?

It seems so long since I last wrote in my blog, at least a month.
To be fair I have been busy with this and that.
So I am back from Spain, how long ago my holiday now seems. Kids back at school. China is into her last year - although she wants to stay for 6th form to do photography; toldher that she has to get good grades to ensure that she can stay.
Jazz has got himself a scholarship to play football and study - he is so happy, what a lucky lad he is because football is his life, not many of us get to do what we want,so I hope he appreciates it.
I have been quiet on the crafting front, basically because I have been trying to get this house in order so that I don't feel guilty when I spend time doing what I enjoy.

Sam called me and invited me around to look at her wet room - well ain't I the lucky one because it is absolutely stunning, I would want to eat my breakfast, dinner and tea in there as well as move in the TV - it is DIVINE! and lucky me she gave me some of the tiles that adorn the wall to craft with.

What else...got some new books to read, joined www.shelfari.com to share books with friends on line - check it out.

Carol at Ingeniously Creative put me on to a website by Eni Oken a jewellery maker so spent time looking around there.
Been dipping in and out of others' blogs, love to see what others are up to...

That is all for now
gonna post some pics next posting off different aspects of Mont Lucon in France - watch this space

Quiz - what color am I

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I can't believe how accurate this turned out to be...amazing!!!

Getting Organised

With my limited resources I am trying to be organised. I keep asking myself
should I leave all my paints etc. in Spain and buy new when I get home? I shall decide as it gets nearer time to go home. This
cupboard is glass fronted and Trudy was going to put it on the skip - no chance when I saw it - LOL. Every bit of storage in the art room is
utilised now - whats a girl to do....!

Well the doors were in situ and the pillars waited patiently!

Here are a few pics showing them in situ- this one to the left shows the top of the pillar

Inspiratin for canvas - Lorraine

Thought I would write about the canvas for my bedroom. As you can see from pics my bedroom has an Indian theme. My other half bought the wood carvings on the wall at the head of the bed and the goddess walk plaque. I wanted to create a wall hanging (having altered the jewellery box). Today was the day! I used gesso, acrylic paint, gold paint, glitter glue mesh and gold paper to create the background. I then did swirls with acrylic glue added a picture of Rama and Sita and just had fun playing. The colours are more vibrant in real life and I am so pleased with the result - I am allowed to say that aren't I? Lol! Now I just have to get the old man to hang it, I think he likes it because he said "that's nice" - he has a way with words LOL.
One good thing about working over here in Spain, because of the heat everything drys so quick so it is gratifying to be able to start and finish a piece in a few hours.
Lorriane don't think mine is anywhere near as good as your Ganesh but once again you inspired me to give it a go - so THANK YOU. When I get back to England I am gonna get you set up with a blog of your own because you really need to share your creativity with the world; for all you unfortunate people out there who have never seen Lorraine's work it is sublime.
That's it for now, Adios till next time

Canvas for bedroom