I have been neglecting my propper journals recently for digi, but this post (hopefully) shows that I still can get inky when needed.

A few months ago I purchased a small music book dating back to the 1940's. No idea what to do with it initially so I used for journaling my fave song lyrics into, but that didn't last too long as I started to journal general stuff (lack of imagination I guess)

So here are a couple of completed pages. All backgrounds are using Dylusions paints and sprays and the images are a selection of Dylusions, Stampotique, The Octopode Factory, Teesha Moore and the odd one or two other stamps that I have lying around.

 

I have had a bit of a roller coaster couple of months recently hitting mega highs with my 29th wedding aniversary and 50th birthday but also plunging to mega lows with news of possible redundancy (again). Would be the 2nd time in 2 years!

Consultations are now over and the news is that all staff are being TUPE'd over to the new contractor - Good news in one respect in that I still have a job, but the down side is that I have to travel an additional 24 miles a day! (12 there and 12 back).

I suppose I should be thankful that I am still in a job.  I will know better in the next week when the transfer takes place.  Watch ths space!

Looking forward to a combo 'leaving/50th' do!

 

Not sure how much time for creating I will have with all that travelling to do on a daily basis!

 

Thanks for calling by x

Jubilee crafting (of sorts)

I hope you all enjoyed the Bank Holiday and the wonderful Jubilee celebrations and the dank weather didn't spoil your fun?

Well as mentioned in previous post - no Jubilee party for moi! As the weather was a wash out and hubby was working, I settled down to some digi work.

I have been keeping a digi diary this year - so much going on in 2012 - Jubilee, Olympics, and anything and everything else in between, oops and I will be 50 later this year (at the moment feel about 90!) So I did feel the need to document the year one way or another.

 

This is my (unfinished) page for the Jubilee celebrations.  With the exception of the buff spiral journal I did try and keep to just a red,white and blue colour scheme but I found it so hard to work with such a limited pallet. I added a splash of yellow (gold crowns) in the mix just to lively it up a bit.

This is a page I did re my favourite soul tracks - well actually it's a play list from my iPod. I did a similar page in my 50's journal re my fave 70's tracks (another playlist) and tried to replicate a digi version - so much jiggery pokery trying to get everything to fit - but i'm happy with the results (I think!)

And this is the page from my 50's ledger journal - Ha how many songs do you remember?
The colours are actually much more vibrant but that doesn't come across too well unfortunately.

Well one last day of hols left and then back to norm on Wednesday. No rest for the wicked eh!

Happy Holidays

Yay I have a week and two days holidays from work. I have only had one long weekend and one day  off since Christmas so I am well ready for the break.

 

I have a couple of jobs to catch up with at home but on the whole it will be a week of relaxation and PLAY.

I am looking forward to the Golden Jubilee celebrations next week but unfortunately there will be no street parties to attend which is a great shame.  In past, I have organised several street parties for our neighbours but sadly over the years, people have moved on or passed away and unfortunately the neighbourly spirit which was once the hub of the community is no longer.

I can't quite get into the Olympic spirit yet, but that's probably becuse I am in Manchester and not at the heart of the action but as it gets closer, maybe my enthusiasm will kick in.

We are in for a full on eventful summer in the UK  - Hope this glorious weather remains - That will make it a summer to remember that's for sure!

I have added a few more pages from my Vintage French Ledger. I keep going back to some of these pages and adding to them - a stamped image, an imprint of paint (bottle top, credit card or corrugated cardboard) etc.

Sorry about quality of pics - should have scanned pages I guess, but I'm sure you get the gist!

Again all the backgrounds have been created using spray inks and stencils.

Ooop! excuse inky finger in the last pic ha ha. Now how many relate to that last quote? Hands up everyone.

Thanks for stopping by x

Where has the last 6 months gone???

Oops - Is it that long since I last posted? I can't believe that it has been nearly six months! But having said that, it has been chaotic to say the least so I guess time passes quicker than you would like to admit.

 

Okies - let's see what has been taking up all my time in the last 6 months?  Well in December I had an unplanned visit to Ireland for a family funeral and then of course there was Christmas and before you know it 2012 was upon us.

And from January there has been a number of issues relating to work which came to a head earlier last week and the top and bottom is that I am on the brink of being made redundant for the second time in 20 months! There is a possibility of TUPE but I won't hold my breath at this moment in time.

I have also had an op on my mouth which result in the loss of two precious teeth, which I do beleive could have been avoided - but you don't want to hear my thoughts on that!

Regarding work we have been given a 'window' of transfer sometime between early June and mid September - so approx 3 months. For some odd reason I don't feel as bad about it this time as I did the last time. I suppose first time around for anything is quite scarey but at least you have the experience under your belt the second time so maybe that's why I seem to be coping with this news better.

I have also been busy in my 'proper' journals (as well as maintaining a digi diary! but more of that at a later date) and if you flick back to my last post in November you will see that I managed to secure a bid for a scrumptious french ledger.  Well the pages I am showing today are some of the pages from that little ledger.  The pages were rather thin so I had to paste 3 together to give some stability to the pages.  

I love how this journal has evolved - lots of pages are work related but not so obvious as I have expressed my thoughts through sayings and quotes - I know what episode each page relates to but others don't - which is always a benefit as some of my colleagues have seen my journal and it's just a collection of sayings as far as they are concerned - If only they knew! LOL

As the pages in the journal were quite thin I didn't want to add too much bulk to the pages so there is very little paint in this journal - all the backgrounds were worked using DYLUSIONS spray inks and I just added finishing touches with paint.

All images are either from the wonder Marsha at Tumblefish @ http://www.deviantscrap.com/shop/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=29

Nancy @ Crowabout also @

http://www.deviantscrap.com/shop/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=9

or Beth Rimmer @

http://www.deviantscrap.com/shop/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=22

Well as the weather is so gloriously sunny I'm going to drag my self outside with a long cool glass of lemonade and make the most of it - it could well be over next week.

Hopefully blogging will be more frequent, well I could have a lot of time on my hands in the coming weeks/months!

Ebay wins

I am so excited about my new goodies that I won on ebay recently, thought I would share them with you. I have been after a new ledger journal for a while now. My usual haunts have not had any in so reluctantly I turned to ebay. Now i dont normally have any joy with ebay as I usually get pipped to the post with my bids, but this time I was so lucky. I didn't just win one auction but 2! YAY and below are some piccys of my wins.

The first one is of a beautiful 1950 ledger winging its way to me all the way from France - this little beaut cost £12.00

It has a number of used pages and a number of blanks, all awaiting a splash of colour.

Now this next one I am mega excited about - its HUGE! and again cost all of £12.00 (Bargain if I may say so myself)

Description on ebay read as follows:-

Dating to 1912, this heavy ledger has marbled end papers and combing. Appears to have a wooden cover, covered in leather with brass trim to strengthen. Also has some tooling to cover and gilding to spine, although largely rubbed.480 pages, hand printed page numbers. This book is largely unused although there are random entries throughout, but I would guestimate at some 90% unused. Measures 33.5 cms high, 24 cms wide and 10 cms deep. Please note staining and rubbing to cover, not sure if this started life as leather or suede. Still very strong and sturdy. I have sought the cheapest postage from the Post Office as this is a very heavy book.

How gorgeous is that!

Seller said he was clearing out a law firm in Devon where the building was literally collapsing with the weight of the paperwork stored there (not surprised looking at the size of this baby !) He also advised that he has 2 further ledgers that he will be list on or about christmas - slightly bigger but not as thick and they will be cheeper. Keep your eyes peeled if you want a bargain!

And the best bit - I have booked Friday of this week and Monday of next week off work so fingers crossed they will arrive before then so that I can have a fabulous 'play' weekend. YAY I', so excited, can't wait to get them all full of paint & ink.

EEK - bad bad blogger

Yikes it's been ages since I blogged - for lots and lots of reasons not just that Blogger it self is a bum. <<< insert raspberry blow.

Well where do I start? (That's the problem with not blogging regularly).  As is well documented I have been having major problems with Blogger and I was blaming Blogger for anything and everything including burning the toast in the morning.  But, I was also having serious problems with my puter.  Now if you remember when I got bitten by the digi bug I managed to secure my son's old puter to transfer all my digi bits and pieces on to this leaving my old faithful 'puter to manage my music and other day to day stuff but the reality was that my dear old puter was well past it's sell by date and even clearing off the digi bits didn't help. I was having all sorts of problems with it did eventually conk out for good (thankfully I did mange to load up my piece for AFTH's 10th birthday celebrations but that was quite literally the last task it managed).  So I did without for a few weeks but I was missing my music, and blog land and some serious inspiration so after a little persuasion with darling hubby not only do I have a new home puter (with a HUGE screen) but I also have a beautiful new laptop with PSE preloaded for all my digi stuff and I LURVE them both. 

So to break up the waffle - a few digi pieces that I have done over the last few weeks using various kits that I have had for ages but never got around to using.

I can't beleive the difference a bigger monitor makes - should have done it years ago.  My lads said the bigger monitor is for aged eyesight LOL, I going with the theory that we're moving with technology ha ha.  I have also been working in my proper journals over the last few weeks and here are two pages from my 8x8 journal (thought i'd try a different size) - Hoping to load some more piccys soon. 



Sheesh - Not sure I can handle these new changes in blogger - I'm as bad at uploading piccys now as I ever was ! Why do they have to 'fix' things that are working perfectly well?? May well put paid trying to load more piccys!

Other than new puter & journaling, the summer was glorious and more surprising lasted longer than the usual one week.  Work is hectic and I am still loving it, and I've been out and about on the Northern Scene strutting my stuff on varous dancefloors across the country, which reminds me how long it is since i've blogged as I actually bumped into the stunningly gorgeous DYAN from AFTH at Bridlington weekender in June.  Sod's law that I didn't have my camera with me though :( - And that's about it really.

I doubt new all singing all dancing puter will make me blog any more frequently but it is going to make things much easier :-).

Take care and thanks for visiting x

BLOG HOP - TECHIE HIC-UPS

I beleive technical problems have occurred during the Dylusions team blog hop so Catherine is unable to post as yet the letter to collect from her is L and then move on to http://newlycreative.blogspot.com/2011/09/art-from-hearts-birthday-blog-hop.html


UPDATE - CATHERINE'S BLOG IS NOW IN PARTY MODE - PLEASE FOLLOW ORIGINAL LINK TO HER BLOG - YOU WON'T BE DISAPOINTED - HER PROJECT IS SCRUMPTIOUS

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY AFTH

Welcome to a very exciting blog hop.

Dyan and her gang are celebrating ART FROM THE HEART'S 10th BIRTHDAY ~ Whoop whoop

Lots of exciting things happening at Art from the Heart next weekend where the big birthday bash is happening. Want to know more then do click here http://dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com/

So in Celebration we are having 5 birthday blog hops.
You should have reached my blog from here gillian. and are on the DYLUSIONS hop

Here is my project - a page in my A4 journal

I used
Dylusions spray inks in Amber, Cyan, Lemon and Fuschia
Dyan's Downloads - art journal ephemera sheet 14 and sheet 24
Blonde Moments patterned paper from ranges Sugar Dumpling, Minasie Moo and Friends Junction
Finished with some stencils and doodles

Before you move on - you will need to collect a letter from me which is A

This is part of an anagram of a DYLUSIONS product
Once you get back to Dys blog please email your answer to Ben.

So after leaving me a comment you need to move on to
http://photocatseyes.wordpress.com/
Have fun hopping!

PS - As blogger is not in party mood and allowing me to load other pics of my page I have added them to flickr and my link is over there >>> (clearer piccys)
Pft ... Blogger party pooper!

I HATE BLOGGER!

ARGHHHHHHH

Kate Chaos

Well who wouldn't want a copy of Kate's new Art Journalling DVDs ? Everyone and anyone who does art journaling is after these.


The uber talented Kate Crane http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/ has just released not 1 but 2 new DVD s showing her unique style of art journaling.

What's that?? You wan't to create scumpdidlyuptious journal pages like Kate does? Well now you can. Get yourself off over to Kate's bloggy, snag her dvd button and leave her a comment to be in with a chance of winning a set. You'd be daft not to. http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/