Art Journal

 Remember the paints I bought at Ally Pally?

These ones from Dyan Reavely

I had fun playing with them in an old notebook I had at work.  It was full up of notes from meetings and conferences from 2006 and taking up space on my desk.  Watching Dyan at Ally Pally was really inspirational, I could see how bold I needed to be with the paint and the ink sprays.  Using my fingers, an old credit card and some bottle tops, I slapped and plastered away to my heart's content.  Now I just have to get down to some cutting and sticking and see how brave I can be with the journalling - eek!

Happy Birthday Daring Card Makers

Some of you may know that I have been without access to most of my paper stash for a couple of months now while I am waiting for a new craft area to be created.  But I couldn't let this occasion pass.

"October is our anniversary month - yes the DCM is FOUR years old this month - we're very proud of that achievement and we hope that you've all enjoyed and been inspired by our challenges and the projects we've shown here. We're looking forward to Year 5 already!"

Well "our" very own birthstone is the 10th birthstone dare of the year and it's:

Opal – The October Birthstone

 

Apologies for the rather naff card.  I can't get at my cardstock but managed to dig out my box of paper and card scraps, in fact the opalescent pink paper was one of the first that I bought for card making.  The 'flower' came from a birthday present I got last year (yes, I kept it) and the lace was picked off a birthday card I got his year (nothing like a bit of recycling), I sprayed the background with glimmer mists and ink sprays and the little sticky pearls were on my pin board which is hanging in the bedroom at the moment.

 

So Happy Birthday to DCM, may you go from strength to strength and continue to inspire us to make beautiful cards for many years to come. 

  

A little scrap Magic

You've already seen the photos, but here is a digi layout I have done with them using 'Remember the Magic' from DSD by Athena.  The kit has a Disney theme but I thought the bright colours, ticket and camera embellies were just right for this layout.

Ally Pally and Friends

  I've just had a really enjoyable weekend away.  It started early on Saturday morning when I got on the train at 8.10am heading down to London, it was a chilly morning with frost on the car as we set off to the station, but fortunately the train was nice and warm.  I arrived at Euston station and found the train to Watford Junction, heading back the way I had just come!  However, it was quicker to go to London first than try to stop off on the way down.  

I was met at the station by my crafting friend TraceyR and her husband and we headed to their home.

Tracey at her front door.

The welcome message on the fridge door.

 After lunch Tracey took me a short walk to the school where she works, I've blurred out the details just in case you thought your eyes were going funny!

We also took a trip to the local shopping centre where Tracey's daughter works and had a little retail therapy.  Then it was time to get ready to go out for dinner at a local pub.


When I walked in the door, I was gobsmacked to see another of my crafting friends, Karen and her husband Jeremy!  I knew they were meeting us at the craft show the next day, but had no idea that between them they had cooked up this surprise for me.  It was so nice to get to spend a bit more time together.  We had a really nice meal and all went back to Tracey and Sunjeev's house and chatted till late.


Next morning we met Karen and Jeremy at the station and set off for Alexandra Palace, let's just say that we didn't get there by the most direct route but we did get there lol!  It is a really impressive building, if a little sad and crumbling round the edges, although inside it looks quite grand.  

Jeremy, Karen and Tracey outside Ally Pally

Inside Alexandra Palace

 

 

 

 

 

On the phone

Tracey phoned Di who had already been at the show for some time.

Here is Di, looking for me and Tracey

Once Di found us, we all went for something to eat then started looking round the stalls.

We had a good look round and then we started to shop :)

Here is my haul of stash, I was hugely impressed by Dyan Reaveley's art journal demo and bought some of her translucent Acrylic paint and ink sprays.  A few stamps that caught my eye, some ink pads and some Cut & Dry foam.


Tracey kindly travelled back to Euston station with me where I caught the 4.25 train and I was home by about 8.45pm.  Having a day off work today to recover and catch up with the chores.  


Huge thanks to Tracey and her family for their generous hospitality, particularly to Kat who gave up her bed for me, and to Karen and Jeremy for the lovely surprise.  It was great to finally meet Di and thanks to Tony (and Sanya) for keeping her company.


Despite the long train journey's I feel refreshed by my weekend away and I may just have found my paper crafting mojo again!

Patchwork quilt and a cat!

Over at Inspiration Lane there was a challenge to choose something from the 'Pottery Barn' and base a layout on the item.  I chose this beautiful heritage log-cabin quilt and below is my layout, which includes a photo of us with our friends from California when they visited us in Scotland.

I've used this photo of Jenny the cat before, but no apologies for that, taken a few months before she died, it was the last time she really looked well enough for photographs.  The kit is Alter Me by Joyful Heart Designs, the stitching I've also used before and comes from 'Neutrality' from DSD by Athena.  This layout is for a numbers challenge at Inspiration Lane, where a certain number of papers, elements, photos etc are specified.

At last a blog post!

You may have noticed that something strange has happened to my blog...I've had to revert back to the Classic  MinimaTemplate because all the new Blogger Templates are picking up on a photobucket background that has been withdrawn, leaving me with photobucket tiles all over my blog!  I've removed the background from my 'gadget' list but it presists in the new templates.  Anyone who has any ideas as to how I can 'clean up'?

I have not been completely idle since my last post on the 4th September, work is very busy just now and I am still without my paper crafting supplies as we await our very good, but very busy joiner/carpenter who will make the storage and work area for me.  So it's all digital creations again.

These two layouts are made using the You & Me (will always be) Kit which is on sale at Inspiration Lane Boutique for only $0.48!

Crafty Birthday Cards

I thought I'd show you all my lovely crafty birthday cards from my friends at the Bubbly Funk Birthday Club and a crafty card each from my sister and my SIL.

I'd also like to thank Net (Caique Mama) for these lovely gifts, which I won for guessing how many eggs she had used in her baking that week.