Happy New Year 2012

Well, Kate I managed it. Here is the January page of my 366 page journal. I was determined to join in again this year - for those who don't know Kate Crane has run the 365 day challenge - see The Kathryn Wheel on side bar for Kate's blog and details - for the past I think this is the third year. I participated fully in 2010 but fell off in February last year as there was just so much going on in my life but this year I am determined to keep going.
This is part of the cover...
this shows the detail on the cover - basically I took a plain Kraft covered Moleskine journal, added a layer of titan buff - that was before I had decided what to do and it took away the bareness - then over a crafters template I spread a layer of moulding paste and let that dry. I then hunted around - don't forget I am at home and only have a few basic products here - and found a couple of old Tattered Angels mist sprays - sea glass and tattered leather - and gave a good old spray and left that to dry. I then thought aha I'll make it pop with a light coat of gold rub n buff but grabbed the Chinese red in my eagerness and what a good mistake that turned out to be. It now looks like old leather with loads of touchy feely texture - what a happy accident.
Right, I'm off to do the ironing - it never goes away does it. Mustn't complain though as its the only "around the house" job I do these days so
Bye for now

Sue

adding onto last post...

I would forget my head if it was loose - can't blame this one on Blogger!!!

Here are September's pages finished...

and this is October's page as it stands at the moment - I will add to it as the month goes on...The writing in the top left corner says...

The Jacaranda is a tropical beauty with its soft graceful fern-like foliage and clusters of fragrant, purple trumpet shaped blooms

and in the bottom right

It is said that if you are walking underneath the Jacaranda tree and one of the trumpet blossoms fall on your head you will be favoured by fortune

and in the bottom left it says

The fruit is technically a berry ranging from 2 to 4 inches in diameter.

Leaves are dark green, pointed with a round base and from 3 to 5 inches. Leaves can live for as long as 3 to 5 years.

so that's my Life as an Edwardian lady done then!!

Bye for now

Sue

Aahhh, October is here!!!

This was the sky as I pulled into our drive on Monday night at 7.30 - isn't it spectacular. I took loads of photos but I won't bore you so here's just one...

These are the youngsters having a good time at Monday night's class - they are sewing ricrac and die cut flowers onto the back cover of their black and white albums... This is a Jacaranda tree in our garden that has fern like leaves...

and our beautiful orange tree - sadly this tree might not survive as we are having an extension to the downstairs bedroom and it will have to be moved...the oranges on here are the sweetest you can find... I took one Jacaranda and one orange leaf and one from a tree that might be a fig tree - it self seeded so who knows! and used Dyan's Dylusions sprays and sprayed over two pages of my 365 day challenge diary - long overdue but better late than never eh Kate!...I then wrote a little about each and did a bit of sketching and doodling

I drew around an orange tree leaf onto hammered card to give a good texture and then cut 30 more and then sprayed them, again with Dylusions - very messy but fun - boy did my hand ache after cutting 31 of them!! I will write on the leaves each day and stick them in at intervals when I have two or three... and this is some of the youngsters having a laugh at class last night...

More soon

Bye for now

Sue

...don't forget the ginger biccies!!!

This is a long post so grab yourself a cup of coffee ...and don't forget the ginger biccies

This week's challenge on the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog is ...show your layers. Well, I have been layering madly this week.

I needed to get my 365 day challenge pages for September made for two reasons - the obvious one that its September tomorrow but also because I am going away on Thursday for ten days - part work/ part holiday - I'll let you know on that bit when I get back. Let's just say a lot of driving involved both in UK and abroad so not very restful but I will be taking journals and pens....and money haha!! I can feel a trip to WHSmith for a new moleskine coming on!

Hopefully these pages will have loaded in the correct sequence - these pages had 4 layers of paint Dabbers before I thought to take any photos - nothing new there then! Pearl, Hazelnut, Sunshine Yellow and Sunset Orange.

Then more layers, Terracotta and Red Pepper also blobbed on and spread around with an old credit card.

Then I thought it looked a bit loud and although the weather has been HOT! 40 and upwards whew! this is for September and hopefully the heat might calm down a bit this month so I gave it a coat of watered down gesso applied with cut n dry foam.

Still looked a bit hot so I gave it another layer of gesso and was much more pleased with that.

I cut some mini pictures from Crafty Individuals books ( I just love their work) and glued those down all overlapping - see more layers!




Then I cut 30 4 x 4 squares from Delish Design papers...

coloured around the edges with Wild Honey on a Blending tool...

then distressed the edges with Tim's burnt edge technique... and stuck those squares down...

added the title September and a bit of highlighting - does that count as another layer??? and the numbers on the squares and three mini tags and voila! September is good to go!!!

This is an easel Sympathy card I made for one of my ladies - if you are reading this Lin we all send you our love - Bob was such a nice guy with a great sense of humour. here's a sideways view to see the layers better. If you count the ribbon!!! there are six!

When Kate Crane came to play we had a wonderful time -you can see the page Kate made if you click here http://thekathrynwheelblogspot.com/ and also the photo she took of the pair of us giggling. This is my page completed with the journalling on.

If you look closely you can see the shimmer from the mica inks I sprayed over a Tim Holtz mask

Ideally I would like to wear my Ranger educator hat all the time but in my job I have to be a jack of all and master of none so here is another Diamond fold card to display in the shop to replace the one I sent to my granddaughter for her birthday.

Zoe Lauren and Daniella

Hope you managed to stay with me to the end - I may only manage one more blog before I go and then you'll have almost 2 whole weeks of peace - haha!!

Bye for now

Sue

Playdate and a pressie...

I started this page in my moleskine this morning and shall try to add some journalling later. I tried to capture the essence of girls having fun together. My lovely blog friend Kate Crane (of Craft Stamper fame) and her family are here on holiday at the moment. Kate came to the shop today for a playdate and brought in her 365 day challenge diary and her A4 and A5 moleskine journals to show me (at my request I may add). They are all so fabulous - so much to take in - too much in fact.
We both layered paint and ink and other messy stuff on our pages and we were so engrossed in our work we didn't notice the time and it was gone half past two before we realised. She went off to join her family at the beach and I realised I hadn't taken a photo of her page. Hopefully we will meet up again before she goes home.

Kate gave me a fabulous atc - in her own special style - I am so doing a happy dance. Isn't it just gorgeous and aren't I the lucky one. Sadly the photo doesn't show the sheen or the brightness of the colours but in real life it's even more lovely. I tried to take a photo of us holding my camera not very successfully... Kate took a much better one with her camera that she will email me when she gets home but here's this one for now...Here's this week's project for the youngsters who come to class....

the frame and easel were given a paint wash just to soften the look while keeping the woodgrain... detail of the lollipop flowers.... and the butterfly....stamped, coloured, Stickled and with a beaded body and antennae

Here's the girls from last night who worked so hard with their work

Becky, Katie, Dayana, Sabrina, Megan Bye for now

Sue

August is done...

This is my August page.
It didn't work out how I thought it would but I am pleased nonetheless.

I painted the page, dribbled a bit and splattered a bit and thought I would die cut Tim Holtz flowers on my big Shot for each days entries but I couldn't get 31 of them on the pages so on to plan B!! I stippled through the left over bits of the die with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and added 4cm squares of Spring Fling paper then a bit of stamping, a bit of outlining and a bit of doodling and a flower or three and ta da! finito!!!

I just need to remember how to add all my missing challenge pages onto Kate's Flikr page now

Bye for now

Sue.

I'm still in....

The lovely and very talented Kate Crane of the Kathryn Wheel blog - see side bar -suggested keeping a 365 day challenge diary at the end of last year and several of us took up the challenge. Here's my July page all done and dusted but I can't show the August page as it only has a coat of paint on and no spaces for the entries as yet and as I have left the Big Shot at the shop it looks very likely that it will remain unfinished until Monday now. so watch this space for August's page.....

Bye for now

Sue

Yes, I'm back!

this is a pps. at the beginning haha!! Blogger is not playing the game and I can't seem to move pictures or text!!! what IS going on!!!


my 365 day challenge for May and June - sorry Kate but April got lost about 3/4 way through.

Yes, I'm back.

It has been a bumpy few weeks but we have survived the move and are almost there. Just the air con to have fitted (hopefully next Wednesday) and then that's all the major things done. We have probably made a few mistakes along the way but heyho! what's done is done and we will just have to live with it.

The work above is mine - gasp - yes at long last I have made something. What started out as a front cover for the Ranger techniques I have been demoing on tags changed when I realised I had fastened the flower through the hole for the book ring - out of practice is my only excuse!!!Lol!...so I coloured and stamped some card and glued the tag on and I think it looks OK.

I had an amazing class today. 8 ladies came and we distressed, we diecut, we stamped, we embossed, we drank coffee, we ate ginger biscuits and generally had a fabuloso time. I managed to remember to photograph a few of the ladies work before they left ...

all different but all very beautiful - just like the ladies themselves...a few photos of the girls and their projects... It is sooo hot here at the moment - around 30 degrees and not even a little breeze to help - so from a very sticky me I'll just say

Bye for now

Sue

ps won't leave it so long before I'm back