A PRESENT FROM MY FRIEND ...

Just look what my lovely friend and collaborator Linda sent me for my birthday! I opened the box to find a sea of turquoise tissue and shredded packaging, into which were nestled all manner of treasures. Artworks, little things like a reel of ribbon, a tiny bird, moo cards, even blank wooden shapes to play with! Opening this gave me SUCH pleasure and I hope she knows how much I love her! Well she does now ...

ANOTHER JOURNAL DAY

This is turning out to be a really special project for me, particularly since I'm too busy with other stuff at the moment and not getting enough time just to make art. Doing the journal means I have to take time every day to reflect on my life and produce another page, and without it I think I'd be getting frazzled!

We live in a beautiful old house which is desperately cold in the winter, and my heart sinks a bit as we get into September. We'd hoped to have secondary double glazing in the main rooms by now, but this has had to go on the back burner, so we're in for yet another winter of huddling in thermal vests and thick sweaters. Hey ho, it's still a beautiful house and I feel lucky to live here. Maybe it will be a mild winter??

I was so busy dreading the cold days to come that I forgot to notice the mellow beauty of this time of year ... this is a leaf from a vine which grows outside in a corner of the garden. You can eat the grapes and it amazes us every year. It's colours are so beautiful in Autumn, and of course I love this vivid pink, so this is what my page was about .... not forgetting to notice the beautiful.

DAY 3 OF THE JOURNAL

I'm really enjoying the journal project so far, and this is my page from 3rd September. I like it because it's quite simple and subtle, which actually suits what I was trying to say very well. The background is a K & Co paper from the Blue Awning range, which I LOVE. I was prowling around the garden looking for photo opportunities (and there are lots at this time of year) and the grass just looked so inviting and lush, that I took me shoes off. It was lovely ... a little cool but refreshing, and so very soft underfoot. It helped me see that the smallest everyday pleasures are so easily overlooked ....

A NEW PROJECT ...

I do love making mini-books so I signed up to take part in Shimelle's new class "Learn Something New Every Day" which runs throughout September. It starts today so I've spent the past few days working on this set of covers for the project. I've used materials from K & Co's Blue Awning range (just love blue and green), with Basic Grey lettering and a few metal bits and pieces.

I was particularly pleased with the oval embellishment, where the central space for a stone was empty. I painted it blue inside then added layers of Glossy Accents, and now it looks like a proper stone!

I'm looking forward to recording lots of learning with this, and hopefully will be sharing some of the pages I make. Another heirloom for my daughters to inherit.....

SOFT AND SQUISHY

I've got rather interested in patchwork lately, and my beloved heroically took me to a HUGE quilting show at the NEC last week (I can no longer drive, so somebody had to take me - isn't he a pet?). It was absolutely amazing, and I practically wore out the tyres on my zimmer frame, but I managed not to buy a new sewing machine (it was a close run thing!).

I didn't buy any fabric (I prefer to support my local shop) but I invested in a few patterns, and this was one of them. It's really for a wall quilt but I increasingly prefer what I make to be useful so I changed it into a pair of cushions. I love these checked "homespun" fabrics, and anyone who's ever seen my scrapbooking knows that I'm crazy about buttons, so I put plenty on my cushions. You'd think they might be a bit lumpy to lean on, but extensive testing has revealed that this is NOT the case ...

I'm still writing my book but have promised myself some creative time every day as well. I've been making a mini book today, and making a friend's curtains. Oddly enough, after stressing out about DD3 coming home to live, she's gone away for the holiday weekend and I miss her! No pleasing some people ....

A bit less weird ...

Got a bit stuck on chapter 12 and took time out to make this - I feel like I ought to know the story behind this, but it won't come out of my brain. I've used leftover scrapbook paper for the background and the rest is from collage sheets. I think I knew what it was about when I made it - the tape measure is about how we measure time, and the image is about capturing the way someone looked at a particular moment in time. I'm not completely sure! Maybe you know .... ?

My middle daughter rang up last night to tell me that she entered a piece of writing in an international competition and has just heard she is in the last 10!! Such a wonderful piece of affirmation for her, she says she feels like she's won just with that news. So happy for her.

A BIT WEIRD MAYBE ...

When I've knocked off another chapter I treat myself to some arty time, and this ATC is the latest result. I know it's a bit weird but I was sort of thinking a lot about angels ... there's one in my book. What I was after was something much stronger and more dramatic looking than the usual pallid or cute angels, and this image made me think of an opera diva so I gave her wings. Of course she isn't really an angel - they aren't female - so that's why I added the message about pretending. The border is done with a new set of stamps I was playing with, and I've added gold bits here and there too. I could list all the sources etc and who made the stamps, but you know I really can't be bothered! I'm in that sort of mood today ......

PS For all of you who seem a bit disappointed that angels aren't girls ... can I point out that only four angels are named in the bible Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel!! I rest my case!

MAKING A JOURNAL

This is the latest page from a journal project I'm working on - and hope to share with you one day when it's ready. I'm writing out an A4 "thinking prompt" for each page (this is page 5), and it is all about exploring your art and what it means to you.

This particular page deals with what I really like, what presses my buttons, so of course there's a lot of brown vintage in there. The crackle background is something I really love, and of course there's tickets, butterflies, gold wings, old photos, gold shades .... you can write your own list I'm sure!!

It would be good to know how many of you might be interested in taking part (if I ever get the journal finished!). It might spur me on ...

A number of you have asked what the book I'm writing is about? Well, it's set in a flu pandemic, and the main character sees an angel ...

S0 PROUD

So proud of my girl, I've just got to blog this! My (newly returned home) daughter went for an interview last week and has just heard that she beat off hundreds of applicants and the rest of a short-list of seven to get the job! Champagne all round ....

Seriously, it's a great job at the same salary she got in the city, working for the regional director of a charity which organises home nursing care for the terminally ill. Something to get her teeth into.

Sorry if my blog isn't what it used to be, but I'm writing a book, and resent the time spent away from it even to make art! Yes really!! I always thought it would be a chore to sit down and write but actually I can't wait to get back to it ....

GATHER BUDS

Still struggling to find space to make art, but I did manage to put this together. Isn't it the sweetest image of the little girl and her dog loaded down with flowers? For the background I've used an arty paper - I think it's 7 Gypsies but can't remember. Likewise, I can't think where the image comes from either (it's been that sort of week!) and I've added German scrap in gold and black. Quite a simple composition but it works well. Hopefully now that my sister has gone home (I'm sorry to say this but, HURRAY) I can get back to my normal routine ....

ANOTHER ATC

I'm not getting as much time as I would like for making art at the moment, but I did manage to find time to return to one of my favourite icons in the form of this Frida ATC.

I was trying to get back into the zone of putting real symbolism into ATCs so there's a lot of layers in this. I used a scrap of really interesting paper for the background and added the green spiky bit. I was thinking about it as a dagger point to symbolise the dreadful car accident she had in her youth. When I stamped the roughly stitched band along the bottom I was thinking about the many operations she endured, and the prison her body became - hence the padlock. But perhaps her art wouldn't have flowered as it did without those experiences, so I gave her a crown because she was a princess! It is available to swap ....

More birdies

A lot of people have asked how it's going with my daughter home, and the answer is that it's fine! No it's better than that - it's good! We don't get in each other's hair because there's enough space in this house, and even when we had a grumpy moment we worked it out. It's nice too because now I don't drive I don't get out much! (Yes, I know it sounds a bit sad). She's taken me to one or two places now, a facility I will miss when she finds a full-time job! Anyway she's gone away for the weekend - to look after her nieces - and while she's gone I made her this cushion with some fabric she admired in Ikea. Love those birdies!