influenced by Miro

Another journal page I have done..it started off using a milliande prompt from day 2 of her 2010 journal series. I wanted to draw around the shapes formed by the ink and paint scrapes. I have been looking at the paintings by Miro and have a little Miro plate I bought in Spain which has lovely black lines and dots.

Etsy shop updated:
I have found out how to print off good quality prints of my journal pages and have laminated them for extra protection..now for sale in my etsy shop.

One World One Heart 2011

I am joining in with the final OWOH world wide blog giveaway. I have taken part for the last 2 years and recommend it as you get loads of visitors to your blog and you might even win some goodies. For this year so far I am offering a laminated photo print of one of my popular journal pages and some brand new art doll rubber stamps....I will probably add to it nearer the date. Be sure to check out the link here. On Feb 17th I will choose a winner of my OWOH.

OWOH COMMENTS NOW CLOSED

WINNER IS Hands to work Heart to God in the Phillipines. Well done will email you and send it off soon.

colourful backgrounds and celebrating me & my dad..

Over at milliande I am now following the 2010 journal prompts as I dont want to stop doing my art journal page a day. Here are 2 pages I painted today using circles as a prompt..like the way they have turned out..I used various paint lids, foam stamps, circle stamps and my fav technique of scraping paint.


Went to my parents today as it was my dad's birthday..I bought him loads of plants and compost as he loves gardening. I am trying to get my sons to love gardening too and my youngest helped me plant rhubarb yesterday.

Lifes too short to be square (artistic mum group)

I wanted to incorporate some inchies onto a journal page. I have been following projects in the artistic mother book by shona cole and chapter 11 involves using inchies. I have used an inchie punch to make some squares out of inked and painted papers. This face is one I did a couple of months ago but unfortunately the paper ripped but managed to save it for this layout...so dont throw out any ripped paintings! The journalling reads "Lifes too short to be square so be a little wild".
Its the One World One Heart blog giveaway tomorrow 30th Jan so will be giving away a laminated photo print of one of my journal pages..check back for details tomorrow

Nature Queen art journal page.

this is my finished page for the strathmore journal workshop. We had to recycle previous paintings and drawings and make them into a new journal page. She reminds me of a nature queen listening to the bird song. I had fun playing with my new dipping pen nib for the journalling on this page..it reads "she loved to listen to the early morning calls of the birds it was a time of perfect peace".



My sons were off school today so we went to seffy park (as we locals call it) and had great fun running round, feeding all the birds and throwing sticks on the ice. We watched this lone swan by a water fountain for quite a long time..it was so peaceful. Hope you all have a peaceful weekend....

when your smilin the whole world smiles with you..

For todays journal pages I wanted to practise drawing smiling faces...here are today's attempts..my noses and mouths are getting better. I quite like faces with laughter lines ..no botox here! Hope you have had a reason to smile today :)

she loved the birds (Wed stamper inky backgrounds)

Had a go at spraying lots of inky backgrounds today through various masks and stencils. I really like the way the bird background turned out on this journal page..this was a print taken off an already sprayed mask. Be sure to check out the other inky backgrounds over at wed stamper.

make your own fortune in life (collage obsession)

I was looking at the Richard Hamilton "Just what is it......". collage today and wanted to do a similair journal page when I spotted this mans photo in a magazine. I was reading the paper today and it was saying that a lot of women still get up 10 mins earlier so that their husband will never see them without perfect makeup...I find this really sad and it got me thinking about the topic of image. The words written on the hand say "the image is one thing and the human being is another. Its very hard to live up to an image". The challenge over at collage obsession is to use this wheel of fortune picture and I think that is so important to make your own fortune in life..be sure to check out the other collage obsessions!

Remembering sweets from childhood . ..

Over at UK Stampers the art journal prompt for this week is all about favourite sweets from childhood..we are to name 5 sweets and include a wrapper on the page. Whenever I see milky way sweets it always reminds me of going on the ferry across the river mersey to new brighton. Mum used to buy my brother and I milky way bars to eat whilst we watched the waves on the mersey...it used to be great running down the gangway to the pier head and then getting on the ferry and the excitement as the ferry bumped against the landing stage over at new brighton..sadly this ferry doesnt run anymore. I took a photo of some of the old ferry boats at the weekend and I have merged it so it looks ghostly along with a photo of me when I was about 3yrs...must get some more childhood photos of me looking cute..lol!

Loving the process rather than the outcome...

I know this page has a powerful statement but I wanted to convey the important aspect of creating just for ourselves and not being put off by negative criticism from yourself or others. So many times we say to ourselves "I cant do it" but if we dont practise then we will never learn. I had a go at drawing my face yesterday but although the eyes and nose were ok..I just couldnt get the smiling mouth right but I know that if I keep practising I will learn eventually. For this milliande prompt we had to draw a heart then use words cut from magazines to add to it. I saw these words and just had to put them on the heart.

bluebell peace, clay shrines, journal & warm arty gloves..

we had to draw bluebells for the milliande art journal prompt and I am looking forward to seeing bluebells again as it is a sign of warmer days and lighter nights..roll on spring.


I went to my friends house today and it was great to see Pat, Linda, Chantal and Bethan again after the long christmas break. We had a go at playing with polymer clay and I used some stamps, bright metallic green eyeshadow and mica powders to make some shrines I made look coppery...really pleased at the way they turned out...think I will put some little pictures in them at a later date.

Pat knitted me some lovely warm arty gloves...my hands tend to split around the knuckles in cold weather so I need to keep them covered and tend to use lots of heavy duty handcream (I think she is going to make some more soon and sell them on etsy etc). Here is a photo of them next to a lovely fabric papered collaged journal she made me..its full of motivational knitters quotes and even yoga poses for knitters!.. .will have to knit the yoga bag pattern at the back...very me!

always remember when one door closes another happy door opens in life..

We had to draw our front door for this milliande prompt. I have used a mixture of graphite and caran d ache watercolour pencils for this one. Visited The Works shop today and got a great book called Master the art of drawing for £2.99, some more paints and a sketch book...love bargains dont you! Have a good weekend everyone.

working with fabric for a change (UKS & FAMM challenges)

My friend Linda has posted a word challenge over at UK Stampers so I was determined to have a go and wanted to combine the words with fabric somehow as I havent done a fabric piece for awhile. The january challenge over at Fiber Arts Mixed Media is to use cotton, threads & paint.

The background for this piece is a print that didnt work but I like the way it looks ghostly..have added watercolour paints and stamped butterflies over this. I printed off the digi layout on to canvas and have surrounded it by lace..finished it off with a nice romantic stamped heart and lace bow.



I combined the photo of the trees in fog with one of my background paintings, a romantic image from magic moonlight and made a digi layout and then printed this off to combine it with fabric for the above piece


Today we have had freezing cold fog everywhere and I took a photo of the trees at school shrouded by fog. I have spent most of the day with my gloves on as its that cold..hope its warm where you are.

who doesnt love elmo?

Another couple of my art journal pages for milliande.

We had to draw a favourite toy for this milliande prompt. I didnt really play with toys when I was a child but used to read books most of the time or play with craft kits..whats changed! I bought an elmo soft toy when my eldest was about 6 months old and this is still a favourite toy for all 3 of them 11 years later. We bought a talking elmo toy at a christmas fair but they didnt like that as much as the little soft elmo toy that has been in the washing machine several times but is still going..



For this one we were required to draw pears along with containers..I found this really difficult as with their mottled skin you couldnt really tell where the shading was..I preferred drawing the apple and the st johns wort and multivitamin containers..things that keep me happy! It was good to challenge myself though.

old school journal page, cushions and post from arizona..

Over at UK Stampers the journal page for week 3 required us to use lined paper with 10 things we remember from school, doodling and ink blots..had fun making this quick page but I never really liked school and was glad to leave it! The other 9 things I wrote are : Love of reading (I was always reading Enid Blyton books); Hate Maths; Horrible school dinners; Triangle milk cartons (these were always frozen in winter!); off ground tick (we used to play this all the time); collecting leads (small bits of lead out of pencils used to collect in the grooves in the floor and we used to collect them and flick them at each other with wooden rulers!); boring assemblies; skiving off games..I hated pe lessons; AMDG written on every piece of work (if you missed it out you got zero marks).

I made another cushion today with the fabric art panels I bought off fannie narte and I think they look lovely on my sofa

I also got a lovely package in the post all the way from bisbee in arizona from kimberly who is mixed media bead designer..I was made up with the lovely handmade paper, beads, mexican cards, vintage photo of the northern lights etc etc..its great having blog friends all over the world.

focus on your third eye

I try and practice a little bit of yoga every day as it makes me feel a lot better (if you click on the buddha picture above it will take you to yogatic a great site run by esther eckart). During my yoga class this afternoon we were concentrating on the breath and the third eye and this is where I got the idea from for my favourite number 3 page for todays milliande prompt.

made a cushion today for a change

I like to buy little items off Etsy and I bought some fabric art panels off mixed media artist Fannie Narte .I really love her art and have bought a few pieces from her as her prices are always very reasonable. I needed some cushions to go with my finished knitted sofa throw so decided to make a start on some today. The colours on the fabric art panel are superb so it only needed some liberty print fabrics and lace around it on a black canvas background. I think I might print some of my art journal pages out on fabric later in the year as it would be a shame to just have them locked away in a journal. I am drawing a face journal page at the moment so might post that up later.

Value creative friends..

The prompt at milliande was to make figures with gessoed, painted newspaper bodies. For the background I have used some pale blue and pale green paint pot testers from wilkinsons..I love using paint pots for backgrounds as they come in lovely colours and are only £1! I think friendship is so important. I have made some great arty friends through the internet and have met two in real life who are now my good friends (Linda & Pat)...we get together now and again and have great arty fun. So whether in reality or online value creative friends..

The Erosion Bundle Project 2011

my erosion bundle hanging outside my greenhouse

contents of the bundle ivy leaves, copper, rust etc

bought this sign this morning..made me laugh

I remember seeing lots of odd bundles on people blogs last year and was intrigued by the erosion bundle project. I was doing the gardening today planting a red gooseberry bush and blackberry cane at the back of the veg plot and was pleased with myself as I tidied away all the dead plants in the greenhouse and sewed up the door which had ripped. Whilst in there I found a really old rusty hanging basket chain and then got started thinking of the erosion project. I have combined ivy leaves, old guitar wires, winter berries, old rusty copper coins, washers and wrapped it all up in a piece of dyed cotton with the rusty chain and put vinegar on it. I have hung it up outside my now tidy greenhouse and will open it in April to see what has happened and later on will create an art piece with it. Here is the link to the erosion bundle project site for this year.

believe in yourself

Another page for the milliande group. For this one we had to think of mirrors as a prompt. I have drawn a face then framed it within a mirror..the journalling is lines from one of my fav songs by christine aguilera "you are beautiful in every single way, words cant bring you down, so dont you bring me down today...". I think beauty is such a subjective thing and as long as we have beauty in our souls is all that matters and a belief in ourselves.

lose yourself..imagination is the key to creativity

the page before colour has been added

Another of my experimental pages for Milliande. I found drawing this page totally new and such a fascinating process. We had to just draw lines on a page using ink in an aqua brush and just let the pen do the drawing not trying to design anything. We then had to look at the page and "find" things in it to draw. I looked at my lines and immediately saw a "picasso type face" and wanted to draw eyes everywhere on the page! I have used promarkers to colour in all the spaces. I am quite happy with the way this page has turned out as I have never done anything like this before and really enjoyed where my imagination took me on the page!
I was very proud this morning as my 11yr old received a special award and medal at school for being a good school citizen. Two children were nominated out of each class and I was so glad that my son was nominated as being very helpful and a model school citizen.

Be a little mad (inspiration ave what inspires you?)

I really enjoyed making this mad page for the milliande group prompt debris. I have been printing out copies of my old journal pages and going over them (face to the left). I wanted to feature some orange in my work influenced by Sarah's thanks page...she has some great pages on her blog. My pages have all kinds of things on them from ripped magazine pages, ikea flowers pictures, stamped squares and a pink painted transparency covering the face on the right. I like being a bit mad sometimes..do you? The challenge over at inspiration ave is "what inspires you"...well milliande inspires me at the moment to do a journal page every day

Words journal page and lacy pretty cards..

Two of my sons are off school now with the cold bug and are sitting under the duvet eating toast watching tv..so made some pretty lacy cards this morning with some stamps I had forgotten about....in between the shouts of "mum, mummm"!


Here is another journal page for the milliande group..for this one we were required to use the theme crosswords...wonder what todays prompt will be? I am enjoying the self discipline of journalling every day as I feel that I have achieved something daily just for me. I often get asked how do you fit it all in with a busy family life etc. Well I tend to look at a prompt around 2.30pm when milliande posts it up then think about it on the way to the school run. In between doing the dinner for the kids I will do little bits on the page eg. painting the background and that can be drying. I have got several kitchen timers everywhere so I dont burn the dinner!! I dont really watch tv except for certain programmes on the iplayer and then I am always drawing or something. ....so how do you fit it all in?

I have really enjoyed reading all your replies to my question.. we are a busy lot arent we..."superwomen"!

take time every day to appreciate the beauties of nature..

another art journal page for the milliande group..this time I experimented with gold and silver pens with acrylic paints and indian inks in aqua brushes. I used some celtic stamps too on this page..it was quite difficult to photograph though but think I have captured the delicacy of the dragonfly wings. My youngest son has been off school sick so have been looking after him ..hope everyone is well in your home

gift of creativity

Over at UK Stampers the journal challenge this week is Gifts. For this challenge we had to incorporate some packaging and wrapping ..so can you spot the amazon packet and wrapping under the thanks 4 journalling. I am lucky as I have been given many gifts in my life: my health, my family and my creativity..what gifts have you been given that you perhaps havent acknowledged?

grunge queen

here are some more art journal pages for the milliande group I am part of. I loved having great fun on this page blowing ink all over the page and getting messy with distress inks and water.

This page is an exercise in vertical journalling..I have used lots of gold ink and torn painted papers. To save you craning your neck (lol!) it says "she always liked the curved line swerving off the beaten path".

In life we either follow paths or make trails (traci bautistas and inspiration ave challenges)

I have been making thank you cards with photos of my children tonight and when I finished them I decided to try digi art journalling for a change. I have used a photo of where I live and blended a vintage photo and various writing with it. The challenge over at Traci Bautistas blog is to use a winter photo and some words to make a journal page..be sure to check out this new art journalling site as its full of great colourful art (hoping I have put the right link up now ..there are lots of photos on her blog so it might take a while to load up).

Over at Inspiration Avenue the challenge is to use a fave colour..well I love this blue white of winter now so be sure to check out the other entries on there too.

she longed to fly away...

some more of my art journal pages for milliande. The first required us to use watercolours and add stripey stems to flowers..enjoyed doing this as havent really used watercolours before and am happy with the result as I have combined it with some of my fav stamps. The journalling reads "she longed to fly away with the arrival of the birds"....I often "fly away" by doing art & yoga ..how do you "fly away"?



This second page is called "millipede mum" as we were required to draw a whimsical milllipede!! something completely different from zebras but they still use zetti stripey legs. I liked drawing the purple dreadlocks..I would love to have purple dreadlocks. I enjoyed using the paper stumps with the portfolio pastels here to get the blending right.

2011 focus goals journal page (UKS challenge & traci bautistas challenge)

Over at UKS Stampers I was pleased as they have started a journal section too...it seems there are lots of art journaling sites around at the moment. The theme for this week was to name 3 goals on your page etc and as you can see art journals, cards and digi with fabric are my goals for 2011. I felt that last year I was trying out too many things so this year I am to be more focussed on these 3 areas. Traci Bautista is also having an Art Journal daily prompt and I used her prompt of drawing a girl and writing out our 2011 goals with pen and ink. The shading on the girls face is done with watered down ink in an aqua pen (the ones with the reservoir and brush).

bird-day cards messy paint & the northern lights

Made some more pretty bird day cards today..I am following projects from the Card a Day book and find its excellent when you havent got much time to spare. I have also painted the back inside covers of my journal..my fav journal book is Alphabetica and this is inspired by the great Lynne Perrella..I love her messy art. I had some paint left over so covered a spare journal page and it is hanging on the arty washing line next to my fav drawing by my now 6yr old. This morning I got a lovely Norway calendar off our Norwegian friends and I am so pleased they are still keeping in touch as they are a lovely family which we visited during the summer. I particularly like the photo of the Northern lights in it and could just imagine myself sitting on top of a mountain feeling all chilled watching them..just wonderful.