Well I'm going to do a photo catch up because I couldn't share any last week which was very annoying.
As I mentioned last week we had had book club and our art journal session which was fun.
These were the layouts I did, I definitely felt like putting a spout and handle on this one
I'd already prepared the background page, so it was fun to play with the batty characters.
Then I couldn't work out whether this was bat, spider or a cloaked man with a strange hair style.
I definitely don't think any of the above are ready but I had fun playing in my art journal which is the main thing I'm sure you will agree.
I also didn't mention these that hubby made can you guess what they are?
Home made hot cross buns and genuinely the nicest I've ever had, light and fluffy and had some fresh apple in them as well.
Now onto last week we had the fence put in for the section missing in the back garden, next door neighbours had fencing installed, but with their garden being higher than ours it looked pretty awful, we've attempted (and failed) to create something to cover but alas it didn't weather well, so I decided I wanted fencing putting in.
And then the day after we painted it in keeping with the rest of the garden, a big shout out to said 24 year old who popped over to allow us to swizzle one of the panels as the fencing company had put it in the wrong way around, it meant that it is now finished. Hubby also found a bit of feather lap to add to the top so we don't see any of the other fence (only post tops) and it now brings the garden together.
We then put down the slate we had bought in readiness and moved some of the pots around to a better position and it is starting to feel more 'done' now which is great.
We enjoyed a day on the deck on Sunday which was lovely.
On Wednesday (after a very busy work week) we went for pre-theatre dining, which was loving and then off to see Black Coffee an Agatha Christie 'who dunnit' which was very good done by a local theatre group we had a brilliant date night out which we both enjoyed.
Thursday and we headed out to sort a few things, included some new footwear for both of us, sandals for me from Clarks if I'm honest, it is pointless me going anywhere else and hubby got some casual shoes as he was down to just trainers without other options if I'm honest.
Good morning/afternoon/evening - how are you, how's your week been, has it been a glorious week full of massive grateful moments, amazing people, love and laughter or has it been a hard slog to the weekend?
Whatever it's been take a moment to reflect and look back and identify the positives because it's
OK so what's this last 7 days been like - let's see. Well a relaxing weekend without anything that I have to do or anywhere I have to be - that's always a positive!
A jaunt up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a look around an amazing exhibition by Amar Kanwar about "The Sovereign Forest" - breathtaking, political, made me angry and sad that things are still occurring in this world that seem ultimately against human nature. Very very thought provoking, photos taken inside the exhibit!
Then a new sculpture
Which was quite tall!
And a beautiful winter sky!
Spending time with hubby chatting
Our evening walk, it's amazing how much clearer your head feels when you have that to look forward to, despite the cold and the rain.
A meeting at school which was both informative and good fun.
Hairdressers on Tuesday, taming those locks!
A hospital appointment which was altogether weird, not sure it's a positive but I managed it.
Visiting family, catching up with them, even though I've not had enough time with them recently.
Looking forward to Lil Sis finishing her assignments so we can chat and catch up HURRY UP MEL - I'M BORED OF NOT HAVING YOU TO TALK TO!
Chatting with my Mum and putting the world to rights!
Now don't get me wrong this week has been hard work on many fronts, but if we only dwell on the negatives then life will always seem hard, difficult and not much fun. When you start thinking about the positives life becomes, richer and happier - fancy giving it a go, join in blog it, pop back link up, leave a comment and we'll come visit!
No photos again - however, I'll leave you with a layout and an art journal page before Mr Linky
First up me and said twelve year old with the flood line above our heads in Cockermouth a couple of years ago (when I was still a brunette)!
And an art journal page for my stay at home art journal page - based on lyrics!
Tis Friday - time to take stock and reflect, now you are going to get a two week round up - because last week we were away - you may or may not need a cuppa before I start so without further ado it's
First up has to be digital cameras - amazing creations, I remember the old processed cameras - 36 exposures seemed a lot and you never knew quite what you'd taken until you were well and truly home. Digital cameras changed all that not only can you take as many as your card will take and we found our 2GB card could do 900+ photos (plus the 871 that said 12 year old managed on a separate card) but we could check them when we got back and capture a few we'd missed on our way - so my biggest grateful if being able to capture life as it occurs in such mahoosive quantities!
Next up finding castles in the fog - I tell you, you might be able to see Bamburgh Castle for miles around - however, not on a foggy day! Despite that, it was a fabulous castle in a beautiful setting!
Here is said 12 year old making Viking flat packed furniture who knew they were making flat packs so early! We love things like this, makes history so much more fun don't you think!
These two - mischief 1 and mischief 2 (I should get tee-shirts with that on), had me in stitches all week they did and this was no different - the pointing was about who'd been the naughtiest!
History, I love history and here in Britain we are surrounded by oodles of it, if you can be bothered to go and find it, these chains were apparently used to rescue shipwrecks - not sure who was big enough to use them mind - they were enormous!
Finds - lovely golden finds that we got to see, rather than hidden away they were in a fab glass cabinet for us to peruse and when they were tiny they even provided magnifying glasses!
Said 12 year old, an absolute delight to spend time with him, he's growing up so fast these days it scares me.
Alnwick Gardens - my most favourite place when we were visiting Northumberland, spent an entire day there and if I lived local I'd be buying an annual pass!
Plus the Poison Garden was fantastic for a walk around, scary how many of these plants are in most peoples gardens (well apart from the cannabis plant that they have to have a special licence for in order to grow).
Alnwick Castle, buying a joint garden and castle ticket meant we could upgrade the ticket to an annual pass and return the following day - biggest grateful because there is no way you can do both the garden and castle in a day - so hugely grateful for annual upgrades (it's a shame it didn't include the garden boo hoo).
Next up has to be Ryan - tour guide for the Broomsticks and Battleaxes tour at Alnwick, had us in stitches and pointing out all the areas that were used for filming the first two Harry Potter films was simply fantastic.
Outdoor theatre and more specifically The Lord Chamberlains Men, an all male cast who tour with Shakespeare, this years delights As You Like It! Fabulous night out at Bamburgh Castle, picnic blanket, picnic, fleecy blanket and a glass of wine!
Balcony, bacon buttie and a cuppa - nothing finer (very naughty but nice)!
Holy Island - just because it's a bit different, I wasn't particularly enamoured with the inside of the castle but the photos of the outside are lovely (I actually preferred the priory on the island if I'm honest and the gorgeous Church next door)
New stained glass windows in the church next to the priory - beautiful!
Celtic knots on the vestments - gorgeous!
Playing board games whilst we were away - great fun and made us giggle!
Cragside, now this was not my most favourite day despite it apparently being the number one place to go in Northumberland, however looking back I can appreciate that it was very pretty and a lovely place, just wish it hadn't been on the side of a rather steep hill, walking down, down, down to things was fine, it was the walking up, up, up to get back I wasn't too keen on!
I did like the veiled statue inside, no where near as refined as the one in Chatsworth but lovely nonetheless!
The 8 tonne Italian marble fire place is fabulous though - and quite breathtaking when you walk in!
Art installations, I love art installations, this one was real roses placed inside a tank of copper sulphate that had a charge running through it thus electro plating the rose - genius!
Oh and this felled tree that looks mighty sad but provided fantastic photo opportunity!
Cuthbert Cottage, a lovely upside down cottage very comfortable and immaculately clean. I loved the balcony and spent many sunrises sat enjoying the views over the fields!
Sunsets, this felt like a gift almost at the end of the holiday, a beautiful sunset sky!
And arting when I was away, the cottage has only recently been let and the visitors book had lots of comments about how lovely the cottage was but not a lot else, single line entries and didn't give away places to visit or things to do which we felt was a shame - so I did this to it (I couldn't help it).
A double page spread covering pretty much what we'd seen during the week
Up close you can see it a little better!
and the other page, I'm hoping the owners didn't mind!
This week well let's see
Chatsworth show (the day after we returned from holiday), fabulous day out with sister and niece as well enjoying each others company!
Picnics and flasks (I can't tell you how giddy the kids were when they realised I'd took a flask of hot chocolate as well!).
Red Arrows (always amazing)
Dancing diggers and niece complaining that it wasn't proper dancing!
A clean home when we got home from holiday meaning I could sort the washing out and not much else!
Hubby purchasing new DVD's recently that we got to watch, Oblivion (fab film), Star Trek (fab film but fell asleep - whoops) and Olympus Has Fallen - lots and lots of shooting but good fun nonetheless.
Said 12 year old for not bouncing up and down all night the night before returning to school, he went up a bit later and went straight to sleep!
Said 12 year old for being so animated when he came home from school on the first (and second) days. Growing up so fast.
WW girls - just because!
I think that my lovely people just about scrapes together the last two weeks. I have so very much to be thankful for and so many lovely people I come into contact with and you my dear Rockettes are most certainly one of them! I hope you have had a beautiful and blessed week and that you too can find the silver linings.
Mr Linky for you to link your Rocking posts - have a fabulous Friday!
It's been a while since I posted a holiday journal page, this one from when we recently went to Wales, we spent the good proportion of a day visiting King Arthur's labyrinth, so when we got home that evening I set too having a play in my book. I was rather pleased with the overall effect although I remind everyone that I really am not good when it comes to painting (unless it's abstract - I'm great at abstract LOL).
It's in my A5 journal so is quite small (well small for me), I love the stamps they are Bo Bunny ones are are some of my favourites!
I love looking through blogs and seeing what other people create, when we were away recently I had a very 'busy background' going on on a page and I sat doodling one night, before I knew it I'd grabbed out a load of metallic watercolours and started to colour in the page.
When it got so far along I 'filled in' the busy areas of the page that weren't flowers with purple acrylic thus making the flowers pop. And then once dry I sat doodling with a fine liner pen, it's amazing how hours can disappear when you doodle flowers
Up close
I really did enjoy playing in this journal, must do it again soon, thanks for looking!
A journal layout done whilst we were on holiday, I was 'brave' and attempted to paint my interpretation of Penrhyn Castle, it's a crazy Norman castle built in the Victorian era - absolutely outstanding interior with so much detail. We had such a fabulous day there!
The page ended up darker than I wanted but I quite liked the foreboding look!
It's a while since I've played in my journals or played with paint, always good for the soul!
Good morning, if you've happened here to read my review for the Artists Reading Challenge for April 2013 and don't fancy reading my 'Rocking Your World' element of this post - then scroll down until you find the ARC - heading in bold, otherwise for the rest of my lovely Rockers and Rockettes good morning and how are you this fine Friday - tis Rocking Your World Time
OK time to reflect on the last seven days, pull out the silver linings, note the positives and the moments that made life all that bit more enjoyable! This may be a dig deep week - but we'll see...
Blue skies - now that's always a positive
Slightly warmer days
Spring cleaning the office - not necessarily the spring cleaning bit - but the bit when you walk in later on to find it all clean and tidy - now that I can cope with!
Our first barbecue of the year - let's hope we can manage many more!
Our first outdoor fire of the year, sitting next to an outdoor fire, wrapped in blankets, glass of wine in one hand, hubby and child next to me and a starry night - now there really is nothing finer than that in my book!
Freshly washed bed covers - smell lovely!
Freshly washed bath sheets that have been on the line!
Managing an art page in amongst these very long work days
Crazy walks around a local supermarket on a Monday with my Mum, sister and niece, I'm sure the staff think we've been let out of somewhere for a wander around!
Sister for second guessing a conversation my Mum was having on the phone completely correctly and us rolling with laughter about it!
My Mum re-naming two of her children with what could only be considered potentially derogatory names - however, it did have us giggling! I had no idea that my sister was an "eyebrow university waller" - who'd have known!
Said 12 year old for getting a postcard from school indicating that he is doing really well (I'm liking all this mail from school - fabulous stuff).
A certain photo company having a great discount last weekend that meant that the 350 photos that I've just ordered shouldn't (fingers crossed etc) break the bank!
Hubby for sorting out my bag the other day that had broken and me now having a credit note to go and spend - mmmm shopping!
Jack Reacher DVD - saw it at the cinema and enjoyed and thoroughly enjoyed it on DVD this week, I like the edgy element to the character!
I forgot to mention our trip to see Oblivion at the cinema last week so I'm going to add that to my Rocking post this week because it really was fantastic and given half a chance I'd go and see it again!
Nope that wasn't a dig deep week at all was it! So there you go, another Rocking post, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, pop back and link up at the bottom, leave a comment and we'll come and visit! Now on with the ARC post...
ARC APRIL 2013
This month's book was Snuff by Terry Pratchett (TP), an author whose books adorn at least two shelves on our bookshelves upstairs, we've always been discworld fans but I've had this book an age and given my change in taste and type of book I wondered if it would still be a good read. Now don't get me wrong as an avid fan it doesn't mean that I always find his books an easy read, I often find you are better off disengaging your brain and just reading until your subconscious catches up and you've fathomed out what's going on.
Snuff started really well, I was engaging in the story, grasping the characters and enjoying the read, albeit that initially I was reading only short bursts of a few pages at a time. This one is back to one of my favourite TP characters Commander Vimes of the Ank Morpork City Watch, however, in this one he's off on holiday! The book was overall a good read, there were areas when I felt I was starting to lose the plot a little, but the characters are so colourful and charming that I kept reading regardless. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the build up to the ending, the giggles that it brought and expect no doubt to re-read it in the future.
My art this month is yet again another journal page (becoming something of a habit) albeit more prescriptive on the journal style than the previous few months. I centred the page around a key character in the book who was called Tears of a Mushroom (not that she was a mushroom or a person technically speaking) - so I hope you'll understand why my page has a crying mushroom on it! Next month's book is one of the Morganville Vampire books, a series I've been reading on and off for a few years I'll let you know what I think of that in next months review!
Hello one and all, I've finally got around to showing the piece of art I created as part of the Chakrart over at Timeless Rituals a beautiful free, yes I did say free, class created to explore Chakras learn and observe and create art.
I printed the 'class' (which was technically a blog post), so I could read absorb, collect my thoughts and create without the need for a computer screen. I spent a few hours last week gathering my thoughts, completing the pages and rebalancing my mind.
It's a while since I've worked directly with Chakras so it was nice to return to this.
I left the art until my 'free' day on Friday, when I set to with gelli plate and die cutting machine to create the following.
I really expected the art to turn out, bright and positive, but this looks deep and dark but it's how it turned out. The hexagon was the image I saw after meditating on the red circle as part of the class. The building block of life that is replicated so many times in the natural world it made sense to create the page around that image.
The 'masks' I'd used on the background (which was created using my gelli plate) then became part of the main page as they are some of the hexagons at the front and then I added a few shiny hexagons, edged the page with white paint and then wrote the word Root.
The page has been created in my Secret Santa journal created by Sam that I received last Christmas and I intend on using the journal for each of the Chakras as we move through the course.
Good Afternoon, well I'm taking a short break from my scrapbook table to document the fantastic Secret Santa gift that I received this year. The Secret Santa was organised once again by Carmen and is something I've looked forward to all year, the idea of someone trying to fathom out what you like and what they can gather, create and buy and stick to a budget and send out in good time - adds to the fun factor. Now it hasn't been a straight forward Secret Santa this year by any means and I think Carmen's had pretty much every scenario that could happen happen, so she'll be more than prepared and armed ready next year in case things go pear shaped. However, you'll be pleased to know that all came good in the end and all the Secret Santa's sent and received parcels from unknown Santa's!
However, this post is to show what I received, I was most excited to receive a pizza box shaped parcel in early December, I asked hubby to open to make sure the contents were wrapped (and wrapped they were) and then I placed the box and it's contents under one of the Christmas trees awaiting the big day.
This is me opening the gift on Christmas morning, it was the second gift I opened and I was so excited - look how pretty they all were, all wrapped in their individual parcels, hand stamped paper, wrapped with string and tiny embellishments! I'd show you the picture of me but I might scare you so thought I'd show the close up shot!
Look at the pretty paper, I'm loving this as an idea for next year!
Now a little bit of chocolate is always a good start - nom nom nom
Then some journalling cards which I love and have already used one on a layout today!
Next up home made embellishments in a gorgeous organza bag!
Some Christmas mail art
Some stickers and some scrapbook papers which I love (again I've used one of these today on a layout and most of them are double sided!)
Then the two handmade items that are utterly gorgeous (I mean utterly utterly gorgeous). A brand new A5 journal with the most divine cover handmade by my Secret Santa, I adore the colours, the masking, the added elements the accents, the stamping - well all of it! This is the front
And this is the back
And this is the spine!
But I didn't get just one handmade item - I got two! This gorgeous wrap which when unfolded...
Looks like this
And contains this
Utterly blown away - it's simply divine. Now I had no idea who my Secret Santa was until I opened my pressies and now have a sneaking feeling that I recognise the beautiful artwork above, but I'll wait for Carmen's grand 'unveiling' to see if I'm right!
So thank you Secret Santa for an utterly amazing and gorgeous gift and the letter you sent, it made me smile and was an added blessing and one which will be making it's way to my Journal Your Christmas this year so that it can be kept and reflected on in years to come!
And finally a massive thank you to Carmen for keeping us in order and in check whilst we sorted this out. I'll be back next year provided Carmen will have me for the next Secret Santa until then well I'm off to play with my new art journal!
