CALM AND SERENE VERSUS GRUMPY AND MISERABLE

I did the background a while ago and decided to use two very different images. Sometimes I seem to spend my life grumpy and miserable - aspiring to have happier, calmer more serene times! So here is my page to capture that. I'm not naturally grumpy or miserable so when I'm feeling like this things aren't great, just recently it's been other peoples decisions that affect me or will affect me if they follow their decisions that have led to my frustrations. Now I know what everyone will say - someone else's decision is theirs to make and I'll have to deal with it - but that just doesn't wash and leaves me feeling grumpy and miserable. I had a whole week feeling like this but now I'm just enjoying today, I'll worry about tomorrow when I get there.

I love the colours on the pages and the Tim Holtz stamp just finished it off lovely! Once again I found myself tattooing the female - this is becoming obsessive!

I was going to put some Dame Edna glasses on the old man but then thought better of it! I didn't feel happy or amusing - I just felt grumpy - so I left him just the way he was!

MATRIX INSPIRED ART JOURNAL PAGE

When the Matrix film first came out we loved it with a passion (still do really) we were so amazed at the cinematography that we insisted on going to the pictures several times to see it. We loved the hidden depths of the film the little bits that made you think twice, the correlation to Alice in Wonderland was also something that really appealed! So the red pill or blue pill question in the film resembling the Eat Me Drink Me scenario in Alice in Wonderland is a favourite scene! Sometimes the option to go back to the place where you don't know the full picture would surely be a simpler option (albeit blinkered) the pill that takes you into a new area of revelation is surely one to test you - even though with it, it brings new knowledge - so here's my page documenting the same!

I was fortunate (via dear husbands film mags) to find a picture of Morpheus sat on the formidable armchair when he gives Neo the choice, with a little discrete painting I managed to omit the writing that adorned part of the chair! I then used a female character from another film (Watchmen) to balance the double page spread. Some serious paintwork, silver pen and journaling quotes from the film and the relevance to my life made the page complete!


Close up of second page

Well what an awesome 24 hours, last night I went to see Pink at the Sheffield arena, with my hubby, my 9 year old son, my 10 year old niece (her first gig) and my awesome sister. We had good seats and the gig was absolutely amazing! A 2 hour stage set with various costume changes, dancing, acrobatics and live singing! The stage set was for her funhouse tour and therefore resembled an old fashioned fair. We were all on a high when we came out (and I wasn't too deaf for a change (used to Rock concerts which mean seriously ringing ears post gig).

Then today we went to Chatsworth to walk around the gardens and see the 'Beyond Limits' sculptures before they go at the end of the weekend. The day has been awesome, it was fantastic to be outside looking at art, enjoying natures colours at this time of year, spending some much needed quality time together. We all enjoyed the exploring and the weather stayed dry for us! Not been home long, but can't see it being a late night as we're all absolutely shattered!

Another Christmas Box Frame Gift

Done another box framed book, this time using some Christmas Forever Friends papers from last year, the pack size was 6" x 6" but the book was about 7" tall, so I just added a strip of co-ordinating paper to the bottom of the page! Painted the frame in blue, glued the glass into the frame, did the outer book and attached the frame to the front.

Cut out the envelopes for the inside and decorated with co-ordinating papers (I'm seriously starting to run low on the cardstock front with all these mini books LOL)

Views from inside the book!

Co-ordinating tags inside the book!

I love the gingham paper

Think it may go to my neice for a Christmas present

I bought her a Forever Friends gift set last year which she loved

So another gift made - need to start wrapping and designating these!

ALL THINGS VAMPIRE!

Well here's a double page I did one evening when my sister was over, we had a great evening art journaling and chatting. We had tea and whiled away a great evening with a couple of glasses of wine thrown in for good measure! However, the demon wine has a lot to answer for when it comes to journaling - it makes me write waffle! I did this double page and then I read it back the following morning to find an immense amount of rhubarb written on the page. It took two days to fathom out how to recover it!

Thankfull I did manage it - I managed to change what I'd written to look like a quote from the woman on the page! Phew! Told my other half to never allow me to do journaling post wine LOL!

I've tattooed the picture again - this is getting to be quite a habit! I love all things vampire so the mirror in the picture seemed quite apt!

Had a great scrapbooking class last night at my local shop, but was asked if I was back "on form" - not sure to be honest, maybe I'm a little quieter at the moment but got a lot rattling through my brain so maybe I'm slightly more contemplative and less loud?

ART JOURNAL - ATTITUDE

I loved these images when I found them, they ooze attitude - hence the title. This is another double page spread in my A3 journal and I'm really happy with the finished results, the images were a nightmare to cut out but they look awesome for spending that little bit of extra time on them! I've also discovered my obsession with 'tattooing' my images by stamping on them - hence the tattooed word 'Joy' running down her leg!

This image was unbelievably difficult to cut out but well worth the effort not to snip through the ribbons!

As you can see I used my favourite blonde moments stamp around the edges, on one side the stars and on the other the semi-circular border. I used acrylic paints in the background together with stampin over the top! Overall really pleased with the end results.

LAYOUTS AND A FUN EVENING

Well I'm having a tidy up in my blog folder so thought I'd put the remainder of the images in there which will hopefully prompt me to take some more photos later! I've got a few new things to show including some more journal pages, a few more Christmas gifts, possibly a tutorial on the box frame book (if I've taken enough images), Christmas cards and a couple of layouts.

I did a scrapbook class recently at my local Scrapbook shop and it was a double page layout, I'd forgotten how much fun double pages were so when I came home I managed to sort a few pages out. The first documents my son's main birthday present, a Lego ferry with opening bow doors and a loading ramp it's part of the Lego Creator set and took a whole week of evenings to build - usually once made as per the book it is quickly deconstructed to be used for some imaginary vehicle but I did warn him he wasn't to do that with this one as it had taken such an age to build!!!! and we'd all ended up getting involved in making it!

Using up older papers the papermania ones I've had forever, in fact they were the first set I bought and I've still got some, combined it with some K & Company papers (which I lurve) including the text parts of the pages.

Close up of the second page, notice tongue hanging out whilst construction in progress - he's so like his Mother!

Another double page, wasn't as happy with this one, but it documents the moment. We went to Weston Park museum in the summer nad there's a computer where you can 'build' your own creature which is then let go into a 'world' to see if it can survive. My little lad loved making it but it lasted all of one minute when released - something to do with a flying animal not being able to swim! The photos weren't great but we had so much fun I had them printed anyway!

Close ups, I used a new set of alphabet stamps for the title but it didn't stand out, so re-printed on little chips of card and stuck them over the top which made it far better!

Other page closer

Finally, sometimes when I get a new 'toy' I go all out, I bought some stitching templates recently and decided to use on this layout, I sat punching holes galore in the page, turning it round and punching more as I went until I'd filled a whole side! It took me hours to stitch and used more than one skein of embroidery thread - teach me for being so clever LOL! Anyway another picture taken on the same day as the trip to Weston Park of the new Sheffield Ferris Wheel or Sheffield Eye or that big circular thing in the middle of town! (even though it was constantly referred to as the London Eye by said child).

So that's it for now, all my images blogged, need to grab the camera and photo some more! Had a great evening last night, sat art journaling with my other half and my son until 11pm (where did the time go). My hubby decided to start his own art journal and not to be outdone by his wife he's started on an A2 pad! Wow imagine the size of the images if you did a double page spread - now there's a thought - goodness knows where we're going to keep it!

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS GIFT BUT THIS ONE'S FULL!

Well another Christmas gift completed and yet another Voodoo Vixen Organiser http://scraphappenshere.blogspot.com/2009/06/instructions-for-organiser.html to boot! I'm getting to a point where I can do these with my eyes shut LOL! They are great when you have loads and loads of photos to use up as you can keep adding tags to it! This one is designed to document a great day out visiting friends. We went to the local castle and did a little kite flying!

I chose funky colours as my little lad wouldn't be happy with glorious pink!

The mini book opened up and tags pulled out. You can use all the offcuts of the card stock to make the mini tags and all the offcuts of patterned paper to make the decoration on the tags!

My favourite bit - the bit where you pull the whole thing out and get to see this! Awesome! Hopefully it will be enjoyed and treasured for years to come!

Thanks for looking!

PINK VOODOO VIXEN CHRISTMAS GIFT

As I've had the foresight to think ahead for Christmas and start the making process I'm finding that I'm actually achieving some of the things on my list. Usually I have a grand plan of all the things I want to make and then spend too long thinking about them to actually make them. Therefore this year I've actually made a start on the list. As anyone who reads my blog knows I love this mini book design it lends itself to any papers and was designed by Annette of Voodoo Vixen fame - the instructions for the same can be found here http://scraphappenshere.blogspot.com/2009/06/instructions-for-organiser.html , it has pages, small tags, big tags and pages to put journaling and photos on - you can make it as full or as minimalist at you like!

The inside of the book has a BIA mini book on the left and pockets on the right. The pockets have big tags inside and small pockets on the front with smaller tags inside!

I was going for a sophisticated female look on this one, so pale pink papers, black cardstock and lovely Tim Holtz stamps that I bought from Dyan at AFTH http://www.afth.co.uk/ when I saw her at the Great Northern Papercraft Show in September together with some Blonde Moments stamps that I've had for an age but work so well on everything! The best part of the book is when you fold it out and everyone goes - wow how does it do that!

Hoping the recipient will like it! I put a bit of fake stitching around the edges and it was all done - so another one ticked off the list!

Hope everyone is having a great Friday - I've got to walk round to the Doctors, take 9 year old to Works in Meadowhall to buy a music stand and then try and find my hair dressers this afternoon - I've never driven there since she moved and it's out of the way in an area I don't know so fingers crossed and make it and find my way back

A4 FIRST PAGE DONE EVER!

This is my very first picture in my very first art journal that I did a while ago, I am probably the least able person I know when it comes to drawing (I used to clean out the art room in my art lessons because I was so useless). The thing is as I've got older I discovered being 'arty' didn't mean that you had to be able to draw a fine portrait it meant using your creative side! So although my first art journal page was daunting it also broke down some barriers that I'd built myself! I did this page after watching many Suziblu videos on the internet - that girl is addictive. Now my more recent influence is most definitely Dyan from Art from the Heart and as I'm walking this path I'm starting to find my own style and it's kind of exciting and fun and enjoyable and varied! So I haven't used my 'character' again but I'm sure she'll come back into her own in the future.

This is the inside front cover of my journal, no words, just a gorgeous picture, Tim Holtz grungeboard wings, a torn up book (my favourite) and sum black stars!

Thanks for looking, I've got a few new pages in my A3 journal to share - but not got round to photographing them yet LOL!

LITTLE ART JOURNAL AGAIN

Stuggling with blogger tonight but finally got these uploaded. I love this series on TV and have read all nine of the books that Charlaine Harris has written and they are all awesome. There are still very few images of the key characters in any magazines, I got this image in a TV magazine and it's tiny - which means I had to paint in the extras. In normal circumstances I wouldn't even consider doing this but art journaling provides you with the power to say "I can" rather than "I can't"

The opposite page provides the information around the series and overall I was extremely pleased with this layout. I've done another one in my big journal this weekend which I'll upload later in the week and I've had a strange afternoon so have a feeling there'll be another art journal page really soon.

WELL HERE IT IS - YOU DID ASK! LOL

Well I'm biting the bullet and putting this on my blog, despite it's slightly risque elements LOL a lot of you have just said put it on! This has to be my favourite layout from my A3 art journal to date, I love the colours, the images, the Tim Holtz masks - just about everything on the pages I like! Me and my other half have been together for 19 years and we go from strength to strength, true soulmates, we just 'know' how the other one ticks - all the time! I know when he's about to arrive home before the car arrives, I know when he's texting before he texts. He knows how to make me feel absolutely fabulous and we just work - anyone who knows us knows that this is the case and I know how absolutely precious this is and I am thankful every day for this. As souls we merge so completely - we walk along similar paths and just 'know' how the other is feeling - we can stretch out our minds and touch each other even when we are apart!

Just to tell you how amazing he is, he's currently stood in the kitchen (a few feet from me) making Forest Fruit muffins at the moment whilst I'm doing my blog, he just thought they'd be nice, this morning he cut loads of templates out for Christmas gifts I'm on with and he made pancakes for our little one, then he glued some frames to books that I'd finished. We went for a walk in the village we live in and then this afternoon when I complained of being chilled to the bone, I went for a bath and he brought me a cup of tea whilst I was soaking my bones - like I said truly awesome!

The risque picture - is actually a picture of Mickey Rourke and I just love the raw sexual energy of the photo - it really lends itself to the layout and the passion I feel for my fantastic relationship.

Hope no one is offended - but like I said - it's my favourite page to date and if you like it leave a message!

STILL NOT BRAVE ENOUGH FOR THE RISQUE ONE LOL!

Another art journal page, this one was harder work because I mixed the base colours and then wondered what I was thinking, I was stood chatting to my sister when I did it and was that busy chatting I wasn't concentrating on what I was doing LMAO! Then declared that I couldn't do anything with it - but never defeated I left it came back to it, found pictures of famous people looking slightly vulnerable, used a Tim Holtz mask and then sat down and had a rant!

I felt much better once I'd done that and got two great journal pages out of it to boot, most therapeutic! Dyan from Art from the Heart says that we should get art journaling on the NHS and I'm tempted to agree with her! These are again in my A3 art journal!

People always think that I'm an open book and that I've not changed since I was younger and no matter how many times I show them the changes they still revert back to the original 'me' which is always a little frustrating, so this page was done after such an occasion, I was feeling vulnerable and cross!

Now the risque one is still sat waving at me, do I dare share it? My other half reads the Empire magazine and so I get some great images out of them, albeit that they are mainly from films or of celebrities, the image in question is a little black and white number of Mickey Rourke and a female not wearing an awful lot of clothing, but I loved the image, it was fabulous so I used it - might be brave and bare my soul!

Had a good day today, been painting books, ironing and art journaling, the ironing wasn't so great, but I'm pleased with the art journal pages up to now! Got a whole weekend stretching out in front of me - bliss!!!!! Hope everyone has a grand weekend!

TEMPTED BY THE DEMON FOOD!!!!!

I love this layout from my A3 art journal - it's the first double page spread I did in it and had immense fun cutting up the free magazine from our local supermarket to get the great images! (Well most of them) - I've always enjoyed my food (usually a little too much) but I use food when I'm down, when I'm happy, when I'm emotional, when I'm sad, etc LMAO - pretty much regardless!!!!!! Therefore I'm always 'on a diet' or enjoying the high life when I'm 'off the diet' which seems to be a weekly occurrence. I know it's such a bad way to be - so this page was just to show how difficult life can be with tempting food! Hence the title 'Tempted' and also the reason for the gun wielding heroine in the corner.

The biggest problem I had once the page was completed was that I showed the page to people and all they said was "YUM!!" - now is that helpful. I even managed a bit of hand painting at the bottom of the page.

The funniest thing when I was doing the page is that it didn't feel finished, no matter what i did, adding little bits, hand painting, highlighting words - nothing seemed to finish it. Then I painted the green border, stamped around the edge with a Blonde Moments arrow stamp and coloured every other arrow in and then I sat back and said - "Yeah now it's finished" I'm enjoying sharing my pages, I've got one I adore but it has a slightly risque picture on it and don't want to offend anyone LOL - so might have to retain that one for friends eyes only! Might be able to share the left hand page of that one though? Mmmmm now there's a thought!

FIRST PAGE OF A3 ART JOURNAL!!!!

Well here it is the first page of my A3 art journal. This was one I did after I'd done pages 2 and 3. Primarily started with a large cut out from a magazine of a coffee jar on a black page and then I kept looking at it and thinking - what on earth am I going to do with that!!!!! It even had the coffee jar's name in the middle of the jar and the more I looked at it the worse it seemed to get.

Then my hubby said - it's a shame you haven't got a fairy stamp - you could put a green fairy in the middle of the jar! And that was the only encouragement I needed I loved the green fairy in Moulin Rouge played by Kylie and the fact that it's also another name for Absinthe! So once I'd got my green fairy I set to with gold and green paint and a shiny silver pen! And soon enough it was all done!! Why had it taken so long? A close up of my green fairy - isn't she gorgeous, the paper used was a matted magazine photo of a piece of Malachite stone which has other meaning for me!

MY TINY (ha ha) A3 ART JOURNAL (LMAO)

Well when I started art journaling and I took inspiration from the interent it was hard to tell how big were! I assumed (as usual) the bigger the better! So when I recently saw Dyan from Art from the Heart fame (I'm not worthy I'm not worthy) state she'd started a new HUGE journal - when I read it was A4 I sat for a little while with my jaw on the floor in disbelief, then when I'd dealt with this information I did wonder what she would make of my journal which is an A3 pad of paper and each page more or less is a double page spread as Dyan would say LMAO!!!!!!!! So I thought I'd share this one with you!!!!

The aeroplane right next to the building is awesome and real!

The car and the title make sense of life at the moment! Now what do you think? Is an A3 art journal too big!!!!!!