So Exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well today is the day.

I have done my first ever class for a cyber crop and it has gone up today at 10am. Scrapstars are having a crop today and tomorrow and I have done a class for each day. I'll let you know how it goes but here's what I've done for todays class:

Front Cover:


















Inside pages:
















I've been looking forward to putting this on my blog (DH not so sure but hey)!! I made it a few weeks ago and of course I've had to keep it under wraps until I'd posted up the cyber crop class.

Anywayz, if you get a minute, do pop over and check out the classes at Scrapstars.

Emily's Art Journal Week 11

My Initial.

Not a complicated one to think about and yet, probably the one I like least out of all of my cards.

I won't change it though, simply because I'm sure I'm going to have others that I'm not so keen on but I like the uniqueness of them all. There is no pattern to what I'm doing, I'm not trying to create a perfectly co-ordinated art journal and I loving trying new techniques and sometimes just throwing something together rather than pondering over it for days on end.

I think thats where I've perhaps gone wrong in the past with my scrapping, I try to plan it far too much and it ends up looking a little clinical rather than being a bit wayward with it.

Here's my card:


















Anywayz, one more to go before Sunday and I'd have caught up.

Ciao for now peeps.

Emily's Art Journal Week 10

Bit behind on these because of my holidaybobs but I'll catch up in no time. Week 10 was about "Note to Self"

I don't need to be reminded to "Enjoy Every Day" but I felt I needed to do the card about this because loving every day is so important to me. I'm very lucky, I have a wonderful life, I have little stress and I can pretty much do what I want to do (when I've got the workload done each day that is LOL)!

It hasn't always been that way and I have shed many tears over the years but not for a very long time now and it's fab.

Here is my card anyhow:



















To all my, ever so talented, fellow Art Journal buds - I will be popping round your blogs very soon, it's amazing how one lil' holiday can put you all behind with stuff isn't it?

Bye for now lovelies
xx

Creativity

Well there was a really fabby cyber crop on Scrapstars today, it was a digi one. I've not really done digi before (apart from one LO) and it was great to have the classes to print off to go through bit by bit.

Here's a digi LO I did (instructions from the fabby Rena)


















and using scratches and swirls brushes on a photo, oh and a bit of spot colouring too.




















Another quick holiday pic, the four of us having a fabby time in a live music bar (all very sober of course)!!!














Hopefully there will be more creativity soon!!

Back from holiday!!

Just got back yesterday after a week in Lanzarote. The weather was lovely, around 20 degrees plus each day and lots of sunshine.

Got off the plane at Gatwick yesterday though and boy, what a shock.........it was FREEZING!!!!!

We'd turned the heating off indoors and it took hours to warm up, I was shivering for ages so I left it on all night and fortunately it was lovely and toastie this morning.

I'll let you know a bit more about the holiday over the next few days but here's a pic or three to start with.


The Villa:





View from the Villa:













Yaiza:













Right, stuff to do, catch you all soon.

Mothers Day Cards

Yey, I actually made a couple of cards. Inspired by the fabulous Kathy from the Daring Card Makers (not a patch on her work of course) I made these 2 lil' beauties.















I was quite pleased with them really as I'm no longer a fan of making cards. I guess I'm the selfish type and I don't like to give anyway anything I make LOL! No not really, I love giving away handmade gifts but I sometimes wonder how many people would actually treasure a handmade card.

Nothing exciting to report, all the crafty projects I'm on at the moment can't be shown just yet which is a bit dull because I like to share pics on here but once they have served their purpose I'll be able to post some pics - yey!

Anywayz, thats it from me for now.

Ciao for now.

F Page completed

Do you know, we are nearly a quarter of the way through the A-Z Christmas Journal.......EEEEEEEK! Isn't the year going quick!!!!!!

I've finished my F page, it was my turn to showcase this week and it's on the Alphabet Funk blog. I am thoroughly enjoying a little taste of Christmas every time I pick up my journal to do. Even though we are MILES away from Christmas it is sooooo nice to just have a little reminder of it now and then. Caroline popped a thread on the Bubbly Funk forum asking for ideas for Christmassy words for the journals and I got a real glow out of reading them. I think it will inspire me to have an extra special Christmas this year.

Here's a few pics of my page:








































There's a couple more on the Alphabet Funk Blog so do pop over and have a peek.

I've made a couple of Mothers Day cards, taken photos but not uploaded to the computer yet..........promise to do that soon.

I really have been a bit snowed under with crafty bits the last couple of weeks. I've purposely not signed up for many swaps in the vain hope that I would catch up a bit..........I'm getting there...........but slowly.

Emily's Art Journal Week 9

Inspiration Found!

Mmmmm, now to start with this seemed a tricky subject. I draw my inspiration from so many sources and it was difficult to pick out one initially. But then it occurred to me that there really was only ever one great inspirational figure to me and that was my Dad.

He truly was the most talented person I'd ever seen and I used to sit in awe and admiration of his creations. He always encouraged art in me and I think he would have loved it if I'd followed an artistic career. Sadly, apart from training as a graphic designer I never followed that path and, I have to say, since re-discovering art and craft just under 2 years ago after a lengthy break, I regret not pushing myself further in an artistic field.

I lost my Dad nearly 10 years ago now and he is sorely missed and just printing his photo off today to use on my card struck a rather sad chord with me and brought a lump to my throat.

I've ended up doing 2 sad cards in a row now so I will try to focus on a happy note next week LOL!



















Quite simply the card has been painted and a photo attached. The word DAD has been painted in acrylic and then coated in 3d gloss finish.

Lots of crafty projects in the pipeline so I'll hopefully get a few pics on here soon.

Busy, busy, busy

Gosh, it's Wednesday...........the week is just going so fast I can't keep up.

Work hasn't been too bad but I have been so engrossed in crafty stuff this week, the worse thing about it though is that I can't show you what I've been working on solidly for the last 5 days.....eeek!!

Scrapstars are having a Cyber Crop soon and I was asked to do a class. I've never done anything like that before (never thought in a million years that I was any good at anything to be honest) but anyway, I've made a mini book, taken lots of photos and written up instructions and it has takes AGES!!!!!!

I've just emailed it to Emms and hopefully I'll get her approval back a bit later on......GULP! Anyway, once it's been used for the class I'll be able to pop a trillion pics of it on here LOL!

I have got a couple of pics to show you today though. A friend of mine keeps horses and her pregnant mare gave birth 2 days ago. When I popped over there today I managed to get some pics of the new arrival.
















Isn't she just adorable. I took quite a lot of pictures but I'm having a bit of an issue with White Eye. As she is so young her sight isn't quite there yet so the camera makes her eyes look white rather than red and of course the red eye adjustment on my photo editing software won't change white eye.

Any tips are gratefully received.

My crafting To Do list is huge at the moment and I just don't seem to be getting through it. I think I need to go and relax in the bath for a bit and give my brain a rest LOL!

Take care peeps.
xx

Emily's Art journal week 8

Another week has flown, I haven't blogged since Monday and I am sooo shocked at that. I love blogging but I guess work has got the better of me this week and all the things I love to do have taken a nose dive.

I have finally finished Emily's week 8 challenge - who do you miss?

Pretty obvious one for me, I miss our dog Pip. We have no children because of certain circumstances but we had Pip for 13 years and she was like a child to us. We did everything with her, took her everywhere and whenever we couldn't take her we found someone to look after her, she never, ever went in to a kennels.

She eventually became diabetic and for a year we nursed her, injected her with insulin and painfully watched her go blind until the vet advised we end her life on 4th January 2003. She was at the vets at the time because she had been poorly and I was taking down the Christmas decorations when the vet rang. The walk to the vets to say our goodbyes to her was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do! I tried my hardest to not cry when I was giving her a last cuddle but in the end Tony stayed with her while the vet put her to sleep so she would hear his voice to the end. I had to go outside because I didn't want her to hear me crying.

Anyway, just typing this is making me cry so I'm going to stop there. I don't blog unhappy thoughts so I will turn my thoughts to the good times we had together.

Here's my card:


















We went out for a walk yesterday and came across a couple of swans. They were quite relaxed and didn't seem to mind me clicking away so here's a pic:


















That's me for, promise I'll try to blog more next week LOL!

Spring has sprung!!

I glanced out into the garden today and noticed some gorgeous little daffs had sprung up out there. I just had to nip out and take a pic or two of course so here they are:



















And there was little fella as well, well actually a whole bunch of them, but I don't know what they're called so if any of you know, please tell me..........ta!














Ooh, just to let you know as well.......Tony is actually, as I type, attaching photos to card stock and putting them in one of my 12" x 12" scrapbooks..............maybe.....just maybe.....this is the start of a new hobby for him eh!! As long as he buys his own stash LOL!....only kidding!

Catch you all laterz
xx

Christmas Journal E Page

Well here's my E page for my Christmas journal. I have to admit my journal is gradually getting rather fat, I think I may have to re-think my binding situation LOL!

Again as with the other pages, various flaps open out to reveal journalling and photos.


















Do pop over to Alphabet Funk and take a peek at Di W's fabby E page too!

No other stunning news here, looking forward to Emily's challenge for the week and enjoying today. Tony has popped off to footy so I've got the whole day to myself....fabidoo!

Lots of new projects on the horizon too that I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into and, of course, I'll post piccies on here as well.

Byeeee for now!

Weekend again!

Wow, where did that week go, and next Thursday will be March....yikes!!

No stunning news but a quick pic. I was messing around with Photoshop Elements and altered a pic of a tree, here's the original:



















And here's the altered pic:


















I love manipulating photos but I'm not an expert with Photoshop, I think I might need to buy one of those Dummies guides LOL! I need everything in plain English!!

I haven't been very creative for the last couple of days, I've been re-organising my ribbon storage. When I'm done I'll post a quick pic for you.

I'm hoping to get lots of creative stuff done tomorrow so with any luck there'll be lots to show you next week.

Take care bloggy friends.

Catch up soon
x

Emily's Art Journal Week 7 - SHOES!!

SHOES - Eeek! Now I'm not a fan of shoes, I live mainly in trainers or walking boots, it's comfort all the way for me you know LOL!

Mind you, I do have a bit of a thing about boots and I have got 7 pairs of varying styles and colour. The problem is, most of them are quite high heeled and, to be honest, I don't feel so comfortable in them anymore......it's an age thing you know!!

Anyway, when I read the theme for this week, my first thought was to rummage around for my fave pair of boots. Whilst rummaging LOL, I came across a pair of strappy shoes that I'd bought just before Christmas to wear to a couple of parties. I'd forgotten about them, typical, but when I wore them to the Christmas parties I remember thinking how nice they were and that I should wear them more often. Soooo, I reckoned that was a reason the use them this week.

Here's a pic of the front and back of the card:
















For this card I wanted to try the splodged on paint look that I have seen on so many gorgeous LO's and I thought it would be an ideal time to try, I love the paint effect and I think I might even progress onto something a little larger next time HEE HEE!!

The thing I really like about doing these challenges are that you can try different techniques with confidence because if it doesn't go quite right the first time you've only messed up a tiny bit of card not a whole sheet of you fave, precious cardstock.

My mum bought me the little sparkly bits and when I got them I wondered what on earth I would use them for but they seemed to mirror perfectly the little spangles on the shoes, so cheers mum, another great find.

Right, off to do something creative.

Take care all
xx

A Sunday walk and decorated chipboard

We went out for another great walk this morning, again with our friend Peter and his dog Adam.

I had loads of fun with the borrowed camera again and experimented with taking multiple shots of Adam chasing a frisby. I think I still need loads of practice on that side but I'll get there. Unfortunately the camera has to go back to it's owner this week but I'll patiently wait until the price of the Nikon D80 has come down a bit and then I'll invest in one of those. Can't wait actually but I must be patient!!!

Here's some shots of todays walk:




































I was given the task of decorating some chipboard for this weeks D inspiration for Alphabet Funk.

I had loads of fun doing them, here's a couple of examples but do pop over the Alphabet Funk and take a look at some more:

Emily's Art Journal Week 6

Very fitting.......the theme of LOVE on St. Valentines week!!

Now, of course, I had to use a pic of Tony for this so I converted the photo into a sketched look and printed it on watercolour paper. I then painted a big heart round it and cut it out to stick on the card. It's the same photo that I've used in my blog header......one of my faves of him!

The reverse reads: "You will always be my soul mate and my best friend" and that is so true. We have had our ups and downs in life as everyone does but we have now completely relaxed with each other and enjoy each other's company so much. (I should hope so after 20 years LOL)!































Another week that I have thoroughly enjoyed doing these challenges........thanks Emily!!!

Ciao for now peeps
xx