Catching up on my one little word......and art journal

I'm joining in with Rinda's 'one little word' year long art journal........my word is 'develop' and one of the things I want to develop is a healthier lifestyle.

I'm not doing that well at the moment.......I am eating less......but still too many of the wrong things........I'm afraid I have a very sweet tooth.......not helped when a blogger.....who shall remain nameless....sends me the most delicious malteser cake on the planet!!! Luckily other members of the family also loved it........or I would have quite happily managed to eat a zillion calories all by myself!!

So my journal page is to remind me to 'just say no'!!!!

I'm not too sure about this page.......painted with acrylics.......stamped with cupcakes.......some vintage chocolate label images.........and paper doll added [my obsession with them continues!].

We live near a beautiful park.......so I want to incorporate enjoying it into my exercise......trying to walk there 3 or 4 times a week.

I like the way this page has turned out........again painted with acrylics..........flowers, trees and a bird stamped on........paper doll added........and the words say 'a little bird told me.....exercise is a walk in the park'

And the weather did brighten up enough this weekend to get about 4 hours of gardening exercise........which my back is now telling me all about!!!!

What's a dining room table for??

Well..........when you're 5 months old.......it can be quite a playground........as demonstrated by little A yesterday.

It's good for investigating random items

And then seeing if they're edible

It's good for sitting on so that you can see everything

And pretty good for trying to fly

Not to mention crawling across

to meet a dog

and then another one

and it's excellent for looking very pleased with yourself!!

A bit of baby cuteness

Well.......little A is certainly cute to me.......and growing bigger every day......today she actually crawled across the room........so thought I'd scrap some very early photos of her........and, unusually for me, didn't mount them at all.....I quite like the effect of them just lined up down the side.

The 'girl' coaster has been in my stash forever........it's so good to finally find the perfect page for a piece of old stash.........and actually........the papers are pretty old as well.......in fact everything on this page is older than little A!!!!!!

The flowers were Sizzix die cut [did you see Tim's amazing new Sizzix machine on QVC!!!!!!].......and you may be amazed to hear.......they are the only thing layered on the whole page.

I'm hoping for gardening weather this weekend.......but after a lovely day yesterday [while I was at work]..........today is back to drizzle and mist........hope it's better where you are.



Paper Dolls....and Altered Alice

Reading Sian's post here reminded me how much I love paper dolls [I will definately be getting that book].........I had oodles of them as a child.....and played endlessly with them.I even recall having a tantrum at a party because someone else won a game and chose the paper doll set I wanted as a prize!!!! I soooooooo wish I had kept them.

I think they went seriously out of fashion for awhile.......I don't recall them when my DDs were young........and they never had any.......but they are around again now......though nowhere near as many as when I was a child.

I even saw this Kate and William one on Amazon............hmmm......not sure about this......but I'd probably have loved it as a child!!

I've also noticed lots of digi stores and Etsy shops are selling paper doll downloads.......they are really 'art dolls', of course.......not the real 'paper dolls' that you put clothes on with the little tabs.......but I think they're fun.......and I'm starting to use them in my crafting.......and the big advantage with digi is you can print them again and again.
I love the new Altered Alice blog and decided to join in their challenge this week using a paper doll.
I tried something a bit new for me.......a painted canvas collage.....I think the background is a bit more 'in your face' than I'd intended though.

The canvas was painted with acrylics and thickening medium.......with some Pearl Glimmer Mist spritzed on.....and a little bit of Glamour Dust.......Alice was made from a couple of Etsy paper doll downloads [here and here] mixed together........the flowers and birds were stamped and cut from decorative papers........the watering can and snail are wooden.......and I couldn't resist adding some gems.

The quote says 'Live is change.....Growth is optional......Choose wisely'......all rubber stamped and distressed.



A little bit of Quilting

I used to sew far more than I do now.....I used to have a sewing machine that worked....I used to have a big stash of fabric.

Now I have a borrowed machine.....and hardly any fabric.......I don't have room with all my papercrafting stash!!

But sewing my christmas hearts.......and visiting this wonderful fabric store in Bexhill.......have made me want to sew more again.....I just need more hours in the day!!

So just before Christmas I dug out some of my remaining scraps of fabric.......and made a small patched, appliqued and machine embroidered wallhanging.....and then stupidly folded it up.......I've now found somewhere to hang it......but I think the creases may take awhile to come out!!

I think some more sewing may be on the agenda now........when I've finished my latest knitting, of course.



Favourite Colours??

The challenge at LOTV this week is to use your favourite colours.......mine ,I admit, can change fairly frequently......and while I never wear pink......I do love using it with green on cards and scrapbook pages.

A lot of layering with this one.......which, I think, works much better with this type of  'cute' image than it does with the grungy style I was trying to achieve last time!!!!!

The papers are all digi......I think they are either Pink Petticoat or Funky Hand.......just added a few gems to finish it off.

If the Shoe fits and Card Makin Mamas want 'Happy Birthday', Craft your Passion want 'pink'

And many thanks for all the lovely [and supportive] comments on my previous post.

Bin It????

Do you ever have an idea in your head......try to translate it onto paper....and fail dismally??? That happened with this card.......whatever I did didn't look how I imagined it.......I moved bits around......took bits off......put bits on.......but it never really looked right....and almost got thrown in the bin more than once!!! 

I wanted 'grungy'........it certainly isn't.......and ended up taking longer than any of the cards I painstakingly colour in.......and I'm still not really happy with it.

This second one on the other hand.........made entirely with 2 pieces of graphic 45 paper and some rub ons......took minutes......and I far prefer it!!!

I wanted to make a card for my BIL.......who thinks he knows everything there is to know about cars....lucky that I don't often need male cards......I think they are not my thing!!!!
But this card definately fits Creative Inspirations 'plain and simple' challenge

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all who celebrate it.........hope your day is filled with love.......I've one last 'love' project to share.......a gift of a decorated door hanger.

The plain hanger was wooden.......covered with torn music paper.........distressed with some Lord Tim inks.....a few hearts added, including a peg heart........and finished off with some Thickers.

Cupcake Craft want 'I love you', The Crafty Pad and Crazy4Challenges want 'hearts', Pear Tree wants 'Valentine', Ooh-La-La want 'for someone special'

Valentine Box filled.....and a recipe

The perfume box was 'altered' into a Valentine box here.........then an afternoon was spent making and decorating biscuits to put in the box. 

Not any old biscuits.........heart shaped biscuits........with pink icing.......and a heart shaped sprinkles pattern in the middle. It still needs filling up......don't want the icing to squash!!

But not any old heart shaped biscuits........these are 'semolina' biscuits.....made from a 'heritage' family recipe.......my mum made them with her mum........she made them with me......and then I made them with my children. At Christmas they are always tree shaped and at Easter they are bunny shaped. Whenever we have a family gathering....my kids all say "are there semolina biscuits?" and DS says "have you left some with no icing for me?"

You might like the very simple recipe

Semolina Biscuits

6 oz semolina

4 1/2 oz self raising flour

3 1/2 oz caster sugar

7 1/2 oz butter [or marg]

Mix all ingredients into a dough.

Roll out and cut into shapes.

Bake at 180 C [gas 4, 350 F] for 10-15 minutes.

[you can tell it's a 'heritage' recipe cause it's still in ounces!!!]

A couple of words of warning.......keep an eye on the oven.......the biscuits go from 'nearly done' to 'burnt' very quickly.....and if you want them to last long enough to ice them.......remove from sight very quickly!!!

Enjoy......while we're off out to our Valentine meal and disco.

A bit more Love

I got some perfume for Christmas.....and as soon as I saw the sturdy heart box it came in......I knew it would be a future 'altering' project......just perfect for Valentine's Day.

The box has been covered with some dark pink card and 'love' paper.......some die cut hearts and a wooden heart added.

And a little bunch of roses in one corner

The sides were decorated with the same paper......some ribbon........and a heart with a couple more of the roses........sorry, I found it impossible to correct the awful colour on this last photo!!

This afternoon I've been busy in the kitchen.......making some goodies to go in the box........but they need a final touch.......so you'll have to come back tomorrow if you want to see them!!!

And some challenges....Cute Card Thursday want 'hearts and flowers', Dutch Dare want 'love is in the air', Craft, Secret Crafter and Everybody Art Challenge want 'Valentines', Creative Inspirations want red,pink and white and Simon Says wants 'anything but a card'.

Love is all around

Love and hearts are everywhere this week....I guess that means we're almost at Valentine's Day!!!
We don't especially celebrate it usually......but this year are actually going out with friends to a fairly 'upmarket' local establishment.......for a 3 course Valentine's meal.......followed by a disco......to dance off all those calories I should think.

I only make the one Valentine card........and was inspired by the gorgeous canvas on lynne's blog.......I love red and black for 'love' things......and nothing too cute for OH.

The music sheet was a free download.......torn and distressed.......a variety of hearts........cut ones,punched ones, a button and even a shrink plastic one.........the paper doll from Artchix.........and black Thickers letters to finish it off.

And there are sooooooooooo many 'love' challenges this week!!!

The Crafty Pad, Allsorts, Incy Wincy, A Spoonful of Sugar and Simon Says all want 'love'.

Do It with Digis, Card Makin Mamas, Digital Tuesday and Cards for Men want 'valentines'

Crafty Cardmakers, Papertake Weekly want hearts.

Cupcake Craft Challenges want 'red'

And if you'd like to look at a simply stunning art quilt entitled 'Why I Scrapbook' pop over to Emy's blog.

Storytelling Sunday- a memory preserved.

I'm not much of a storyteller......unlike Sian who tells wonderful stories........and writes thought provoking posts.......and wants us to join in 'Storytelling Sunday here.

I scrapbook happy events......birthday events.....holiday events.....momentous events.......christmas events.......I never scrapbook sad events.

Of course........this means I'm only telling half the story........only preserving half the memories.

I came across this photo.......a happy day......but it brought back sad memories......and reminded me of a little story.

The story is about my youngest daughter and my youngest brother......it's a scrapbook page for her......to go in her album.......to preserve her memories.

The journaled story reads-

'When this picture was taken, Andrew was already dying - a happy day in Johnny's garden- was the last photo of us all together. You were 6 when he died,Holly - and for months after you would sometimes wake at night crying - and you'd say "I'm sad about Andrew" or "I miss Andrew" or "I wish Andrew was here"

Gran had told you that he was now a star in the sky watching over us - and we would go to the window, and you'd look up at the stars, and point to one and say "That's Andrew looking down on us" and then you'd go back to bed and back to sleep.

I hope you never forget him'

A memory preserved

Monthly Make - a bit of winter knitting

I'm joining in the 'monthly make' hosted by the felt fairy.........and I want to develop my knitting skills this year.......so this seemed a good place to start.

 I saw a large ball of wool while out shopping........enough to knit a scarf.........in the exact colour to match a winter coat........with sequins in it.....for only £3.99.

When I opened it.......there was a pattern included.........with some abbreviations I'd never seen before.......so I did what I thought it meant.....which means I may have got it completely wrong!!!!! But I'm happy with how it turned out anyway.

This photo shows the proper colour of the scarf.........which exactly matches the blue in the coat.......so how does the camera make them look different colours???????????

And I've now started my next knitting project........which is a little more complicated......will have to see how I manage with that!

February art journal calendar

This year I'm joining in the Art Journal calendar project hosted by the immensely talented Kate.........there's also a Flickr group.......and I have actually managed to finish my January page.......despite living a very unexciting life!!!

I'm not a fan of February.......a grey, dull month........apart from Valentine's Day, of course.......so went for a pink with hearts theme.......and that's certainly brightened it up a bit!!!  

Painted with Blonde Moments pink and silver paints........stamped with a variety of hearts.......a few heart stickers........and Cupid had to be in there as well.

What I've learned this month.

1. Try and fill it in each day......leave it a week.....and, not only don't you remember what you did.......it's a chore, rather than fun.

2. Make the next month's page in plenty of time.

3. My drawing skills are zero......non existent.......zilch.......accept that this does not matter!!!

4. Despite my very mundane life....I think it will be interesting to look back at a whole year of entries.