What I've been up to...

Oops, another blogging gap, sorry! I'm still getting tired a lot with the pregnancy and sitting on the internet is just not tempting for me most of the time right now.

We've not been up to much, as my hubby has been working a lot, but we have had a couple of trips to Kimmeridge bay, a local stony beach where you can hunt for fossils and walk along the cliff to Clavell Tower - a historic building that was moved 25 meters inland in 2004 to stop it tumbling off the eroding cliffs. We went once just our little family, and again with my sister-in-law, her partner, and their dogs:

My daughter loves it there, especially throwing as many stones into the water as she can!

I've not done much creating lately, partly because of the tiredness, and parly because I've been trying to sort out my craft room - I'm downsizing to the small spare bedroom and have to give up some stuff. I'm way too much of a hoarder and it's really hard to get rid of anything!

Me and my daughter are going to stay at my mum's in Kent for a week, I'm very excited to be going to visit all my family there. I hope you all have a good week whatever you are doing! xx

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getting hooked on art journaling

The other day I mentioned that I'd been doing an art journal page. It was about how I'm looking forward to spring - I can't wait for colour to creep back into England! Here's the page:

Lots of layers of paint and stamping, with some paint detail on the face. I wanted to make her look like a nature spirit, and have her blending in a bit with the background:

I also used some fountain pen ink on the page when the paint was still a little damp, so the ink ran, like fresh spring shoots creeping up from the ground, all wet with dew:

After I'd done this page, I was trying to think how to do my next journal page. I have been using layers of painting and stamping, using the same kind of techniques, on all my pages so far. Then, when I popped into the local library, this book happened to be sitting on the just returned shelf:

It's fabulous! It's one of those creative books that makes you think 'ooh, I want to try that, and that, and that' every time you turn the page. It's got all kinds of ideas tumbling around in my head. Here's the first page I've completed since reading it, about how much I'd love a holiday:

My main aim for the page aesthetics was to cut bits from magazines and books, and stick them on without them looking out of place:

I love the plane stamp in the top right corner, I want to use this on a scrapbook page soon too:

I have about 5 pages in my head that I am looking forward to putting together already. It feels very therapeautic to do, because it lets out some thoughts and feelings, whilst also doing my most favourite hobby of playing with paints and papers!


What to you think? Do you do any art journaling, and if so, can you suggest any great books or websites for even more inspiration? Let me know. xxx

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making birthday goodies

It was my husband's birthday on Wednesday, so I made lots of bits and pieces. Here's the quadruple chocolate cake I made for him, with a racing car made from royal icing on top:

Some bunting which has images of racing cars, choc cake, chinese food and cards on it, as these were the theme of the evening! I got all the images off clipart, printed them out, and then made the bunting from paper to stick them onto:

I got this frame from a charity shop, printed the photo of hubby and daughter, and then got daughter to do a drawing of them together to put next to it. This was her present for him. Of course, she told him about it before his birthday, when we'd just made it. 'I've got a picture for your present Daddy' she said. Too cute!

Here's some fingerless gloves I crocheted for him, I had started them for a Christmas present, but only just finished them on tuesday!

The cards we made him. My daughter's one started out as a spaceship and a racing car, but she told him it was a river, a bridge, and him. So it's a transforming card!

Finally, I made him some mince pies, as I had promised to make some of these at Christmas and never got round to it. He loves mince pies!

And here he is, enjoying his evening playing scalextric, his xmas pressie from me, which he has had lots of fun with:

I think he enjoyed his day and liked all the things I made!

Hope you have a good weekend! xx

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