Let me explain why I have been away for so long. I'll set the scene, shall I.
Busy lawyer daughter and army son in law in UK need a few days r and r with totally-in-need-of-a-rest-Mum and golfed out Dad. Just a quiet adult family Christmas, reading, playing cards and generally relaxing. Sounds like a good plan you say.

Shop closes at 2pm on 22nd December and at home the decorations are out ready to decorate the tree. Really looking forward to having nothing to do for 10 days.

Colin pops out to take my Mum to meet her friends for a meal (she is 86, 6 stone 9 and lives on her own in a 1st floor (no lift) apartment opposite the shop where she can walk to all cafes, seafront, hairdressers, etc) - you with me so far. Totally independent - works at the charity shop two mornings a week . She sees him and promptly falls over breaking not only her hip but also her shoulder. No flesh there to soften the blow. One ambulance to Denia hospital and a hip op later and she is ensconced there for the duration of Christmas. In Spain, nurses do the medical bits and the family do the rest - you get the picture!

Meanwhile, at home the builders finish the extension to our new bedroom on the ground floor at 5pm on Christmas Eve so Colin and I are busily relocating furniture and clothes and stuff up and down stairs (the reason I need a ground floor bedroom is difficulty with stairs) so that daughter and son-in-law can have somewhere to sleep.

As she is so healthy Mum's hip heals quickly and they discharge her to our care within days... except that she has a broken shoulder so she cannot use crutches or a zimmer frame and needs help to walk or rather shuffle. Trips to the loo are a nightmare as her shoulder is too painful to touch and Mum cannot get up without help. Luckily, Colin has a relaxer chair and Mum is settled in there for day and night.

The lady in charge of the charity shop comes to visit on Saturday 1st January and says Mum should have not have been released and needs convalescent care and she arranges for Mum to go into a nursing home for a month where they have all the facilities we don't have at home. Mum went there happily on Tuesday and has now had a shower - a little thing so easily taken for granted.

So my longed for rest and that of my family came to naught. The Christmas tree doesn't need packing away as it never got put up. Victoria and I escaped to the shop for a few hours on the Saturday to scrapbook her and John's honeymoon and we all had a meal out on New Years Eve as you'll see below but that was it.

It wasn't all gloom and doom though....
Colin has a plate of leftover turkey.....you would never think it looking at this photo now would you!!!

On New Year's Eve we managed to settle Mum and then pop out for a couple of hours to the pre-booked meal at the President Bar on the Arenal. It was raining so unlike other years at midnight the place outside was deserted. Normally, at midnight,while the fireworks burst overhead, everyone is outside and greeting friends and the atmosphere is electric but this year was a real damp squib. Inside we tried to make the best of it though Lol!!

I have been keeping a 365 day challenge journal for most of last year - I say this even though I did lapse a couple of times when things in life just got too hectic - ie, moving shop in April and Oct/Nov/Dec when the shop was just sooo busy. It was the idea of the lovely Kate Crane who started this idea last year and is continuing over on her blog The Kathryn Wheel - see on side bar.

This year I intend to carry the idea on but in a new way. With Mum now being taken care of I have premade all -well almost all - the months pages in advance as that is how I fell behind so the new project to start this year off is a journal. It is on quite a heavy watercolour paper so ideal for watery, painty, inky stuff to be added. .

The front cover... inky January...

splattery February...

stipply March...

painty April...

dabby May...

scrubby June...

and July... a touch of Dina Wakley here...

that's all I have done so far but the rest will happen - having made it into a class it has to now doesn't it??

The lovely Becky working on her journal cover yesterday morning.,,

and last but definitely not least the adorable Yaa, my Saturday girl with Elsa who lives in Madrid. Elsa came to my classes all through the summer and is here visiting her Grandparents and came to see if there was a class on - there wasn't - so she could make something. She went away very happy with a star book made with Yaa's help.

So that's it.

Bye for now.
Sue xx

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies...

Awarded myself a bit of journalling time in my busy morning today and had great fun painting, spraying, and doodling another couple of pages in my almost full moleskine - not to worry though I have more - some clean and fresh and some already started. I always like to have several on the go for when different moods strike.

(the images are from Lisa's altered art)

Tanya went back to Belgium yesterday - Colin took her to the airport so no more dramas there!
It was lovely having her here and having some girlie time with cocktails and loads of playtime so I am now looking forward to my visit to her in September.

I have some photos of the classes she took while she was here but Blogger is now so difficult - having to load photos from the bottom up - that I will have to put her photos on my next post.

Another 10 came to class last night....couldn't have had that many lovely people in my old shop so the move was a good one definitely...Almundena with her finished album..... and Itsiar and Sonia with theirs...

They popped into the shop this morning to bind their albums as they were too wet last night and Almudena and Itsiar return to Madrid till next July on Saturday. It is so lovely that I am having lots of Spanish girls come to class.

Mind you, the girls and boys include Spanish, German, Russian/Canadian, Irish/Venezualan, Columbian, and English of course - so a real league of Nations.

Absulutely shattered with this continuous 40 degree heat so now off for a dip in the pool and then off to bed to read my book so

Bye for now

Sue

Tags for Christmas

This morning we made tags using mica spray techniques...

We polished, sprayed, stamped, painted, resisted and distressed...but unfortunately the camera doesn't pick up the wonderful shimmer on here...

these two are mine...





...and these next two are Erica's...





...and Erica brought in a star book and a couple of Christmas cards she had made...





Well. I am still crawling the walls with the pain and Colin has rung his golfing buddy who does something with manipulation whether physio or other and so I am seeing him on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully, I won't be banging my head on the ceiling by then.

so Bye for now
Sue

Messy tonight!!

Tonight was a messy night when the younger girls started a new project - an album crammed full of techniques....so we sprayed, marbled, scrunched and got lovely and messy... except that I forgot to take photos until we were nearing the end of the class when they were drying pages off and all was generally tidier.....



...however, before they went home I called them together for a hand photo!!!



More next Monday
so Bye for now
Sue

A little bit of lustre

Karen, Lorraine, Christine and Erica.

Very enjoyable class this morning. I showed techniques using mica spray inks and lustres as the start of an album. I will get the album photographed in a day or so and put it on here.

We had a crafty holidaymaker, Karen join us which is so lovely - perhaps you'll e-mail photos of your finished album. Have a safe journey back to UK tomorrow.

Right, lunch is ready so
Bye for now
Sue

Messy morning

This morning's class was lovely and messy!! I am teaching techniques on tags to keep on a book ring for reference. Notes on the back help to remember how they have done the techniques when they get home.




We distressed, stamped and sprayed before and after masking with Tims lovely masks - however, I do wish the alphabet set came with a black base on which to reposition the letters. So hard to find the correct place to replace them. Moan over - now to show the ladies work.

Chrissie's tags


Margaret's tags


Muriel's tags



Am now off to play with the metal and moulds Colin picked up for me from Lin's shop so
Bye for now Sue

Tim, you are a true inspiration

I remembered seeing a technique of Tim's where he blasts a blob of alcohol ink with air from a can - well I had the alcohol inks but no aerosol so what to do??? "Think out of the box" I say so I followed my own rules and found a solution. The kidz have juice to drink in little boxes complete with....yes, a straw....so.....drink the juice and nick the straw!!! easy heh! A bit of glossy card later and hey-ho.....fun!

I had earlier been playing with my Sticky Fingers inks without much success. I had lots of inky pieces of paper but no inspiration of what to do with them.



Then suddenly inspiration struck. This looks like a quiet rural landscape - what if I made the other alcohol ink piece into urban!! Got it!



Heyho! bit of stamping later and two more atc's are made!! The urban jungle houses are coloured with Wet look markers and heat embossed with clear and the atc edges roughed up a bit!! while the rural idyll houses are painted with sticky fingers inks (maple and olive). Add a songbird embellishment and the piece is complete. Voila! very pleased with these two.



Right, ignore the grey sky and the howling wind which I suppose is keeping the rain away - we've had enough rain lately thanks - and get on with making some more art.
Bye then
hugs Sue xx

marbling with shaving foam on 18th and 20th January

the girls had a wonderful time making marbled card with shaving foam...

















...and once stamped, scored and folded they are proud to show off their masterpieces!!!