INKY FINGERS

No theme, really, just the same stamp with different colourways.  I love this Hero Arts stamp – it’s so easy to make a simple card with by just smooshing with Colorbox Petal Points in various colours, then clear embossing. I may well add some gems to the flower centres before I send them.

I love glossy card but it can be a nightmare to scan or photograph and it took several attempts in this bad light (very dark earlier) to get the Mountain Rose and Sherbet pink to actually show up. Both cards are different shades of pink – the brown is the wood they were on when I photographed them. Marks are from the scanner – have since cleaned it – oops!  No more acrylic paints on my little scanner, methinks – had to scrub it to get them off!

Had to do some journalling as part of my course and did it the creative way – inking, spraying, stamping etc – unfortunately, it was all ‘reflection’ on teaching and other stuff, so a bit dull. (Have you noticed that ‘REFLECTION’ is the buzz word of the moment, btw???)
Anyway, I’ve been working on a couple of pages for me in the last few days and finally got to finish them just now.  They’re far from perfect but I like them, despite the mistakes I made.  My pens weren’t too happy about writing on acrylic and gel medium, so I had to go over one section with another, thicker, pen which really spoiled it but hey ho, it was fun. One of the things I like best about journalling (just as it was with Altered books, which is pretty much the same thing when I do it, lol) is that if there’s something you don’t like – or an experiment goes wrong – you can just cover it up with more acrylic and/or gesso and start again.
My life’s going through another big process of change and adjustment right now, so that’s what I was thinking about – change and time.  Is time really as we think it is, or did the Celts have the right idea?  They believed that past, present and future were all happening at the same time but it just doesn’t feel that way. Kind of fits in with Quantum theories of alternative dimensions but I’d better not go off on a tangent, lol.  Yep, I’m reading novels again…. can you tell, he, he?


I like the first page better than the second.  I like the colours, but it’s also cos of the overwriting after the pens didn’t work and a change of heart half way through, which led to painting over part of it.  It was originally about time but became about ‘singing your song’, with a bit of ‘time’ thrown in, following on from the left hand page.  Probably should have started all over again but I liked the colours.

I’ve wanted this stamp for a long, long time and one day, while I was looking for something else, I spotted it on Ebay, so I just had to have it… you know how it is?
I stamped the flowers again on dictionary pages, then cut them out and coloured them, although it’s hard to see that from the pic. The face is stamped again on glossy card, then attached before the flowers.

I highlighted some of the wording with white pen and although it isn’t very obvious, it does lift it a little because the background was pretty dark.
Just an aside but is anyone else having problems with Blogger in Draft?  My approved comments keep disappearing completely!  I see them, read them, tick to publish and they’re just disappearing. I thought it was a typical blogger glitch but this morning, I published 5 comments and they’re simply gone!  Frustrating …. :-(

I love this shade of blue.  Blue is my favourite colour, although I tend to veer more towards teals, firstly because I like the way they blend and secondly because it’s really hard to find an ink in a ‘good’ cornflower blue, which is my absolute favourite.  Most inks are either too deep and invasive or too pale to blend well.  Colorbox Sky Blue pigment ink is about the closest I’ve found to my favourite shade and this one is pretty close – it’s a Stampin Up ‘Baby Blue’ (I think – or is it Ballet Blue?).

I really must say a big THANK YOU to those of you who haven’t forgotten me!  I really thought you would have, after almost a year of not posting, but you’ve really brought a smile to my face (and some tears to my eyes) with all your lovely comments.  Thank you again xxx
On Sunday, I went on a small tour of the Williamson Tunnels, underneath Liverpool. It was fascinating, if somewhat short but I got some good photos and here’s one of them you may be able to use in your artwork.  It’s taken at an angle – sorry about that – and there’s a bit of reflection because the receipts were laminated, but they’re still usable and extremely authentic :-)  Just click to enlarge.

I’m coming to realise that not all stamps are created equal. I’m not a big fan of clear stamps to begin with, although I love the way they’re so easy to position, but they never seem to stamp as perfectly as real rubber and they just don’t last.  Couldn’t resist this one and although I love it, I wouldn’t recommend it cos of the quality. Hey ho… we live and learn.

Just another play – this time with a stencil, overstamped with a few of my faves.

All over and done with – I hope, although I’m still afraid to count my chickens cos that last piece of work I handed in was the worst and most quickly thrown together I’ve ever handed in, but at least there’s nothing pending for now :-)  It’s a strange feeling, though, after 8 weeks of frenetic activity, with my parents coming over, followed by my nephew and niece, my son’s wedding, lots of observations one after the other, with various meetings, etc, 5 busy days in York with my brother, Ash and Rach after saying a tearful goodbye to Mum and Dad (again) then a quick catch up with my son and his new wife before the kids left on Monday – I’ve really missed having them all within easy reach and it was a real treat.  But hey ho, life goes on and rarely stays the same!
Here’s a photo of each of them.  Still can’t get over how grown up they are because they were only 6 and 8 when they left England.  They’ll be 18 and 21 this year!

Kind of feels wrong to not be manic or working on something but I’m going to try to take advantage of it before I have to start manically job hunting – not easy at the moment!
The week before last, I managed to get my hands on some of those brilliant storage units they have in Infant schools – the wooden type with lots of plastic drawers – so the first thing I did after handing in my work was to start reorganising my craft room – eek!  Can’t believe I amassed so many new stamps while I wasn’t even stamping, but at least I have new stuff to play with, he, he! Still haven’t finished reorganising, but it’s better than it was and the room’s actually been cleaned for the first time in about ten years – ooer! I’ll get piccies of the units soon, but for now, just wanted to upload the first card I made in my cleaner room, lol.

Just indulged myself in a KCUK ATC swap :-)
It’s black and white and a touch of colour – and it really is just a touch of colour. I’ve entered these into Theme Thursday’s ATC challenge.

Had a difficult few days after the joys of my son’s wedding last weekend.  Mum and Dad left for New Zealand – again – and it seems harder to say goodbye every time we say it. 
Today is potentially the last day of my placement (unless we have to put on an extra class so that some absentees can finish their formal assignments) followed by a summative meeting, and I needed some quick Thank you cards, so I took refuge in a bit of stamping therapy.

Not my usual thing, but surprisingly refreshing to make.  I’ve been busy this week with evening invitations, Orders of Service, Menus, etc for my son’s wedding.

The sun has got his hat on and I just had a blissful hour, making a few background papers and some journal pages.  I started out by trying the technique Carol showed on her blog, which was Dyan’s technique (Art from the Heart) – but it wasn’t successful…. never mind.  Had a great time anyway and my papers are almost dry in the warm sun.  Hard to believe it’s actually not cold!

Gotta tidy up now, though…