10 down, 2 to go!!!!

My October pages completed, so many birthday's in this month, that in the end I stopped writing them in, it would almost have been a page of cakes!!lol!

The Halloween embellishments were made with paper clay and hand painted.

 Well, this month had to have fireworks  as my theme.  2 attempts to get the background right.  I started off with Brusho, but I didn't get the depth of colour that I wanted, so back to acrylic paint, with colour sprays on top when dry.

The exploding firework shapes I cut out on my cricut, embellished with glitter glue and then sprinkled lots more glitter in various colours.
Hop along to Kates blog to see the work of others taking part in this year long challenge.
P.S   OOOOOOOPPPPPPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I posted this a day too early

August done and dusted!

I'm still keeping up with the journal challenge because of  the school holiday and because I else creative  on the go. (must learn to draw cars though!lol)

 For September pages I  used going back to school as my inspiration. I started of with a base coat of gesso, then sponged with acrylic paints using the paints in the picture above.  I had intended using the colours of the school uniform of where I work but as it has been so grey and cold I wanted something bright.( colours are brighter in real life than in the photo)  Stamped with all over with numbers and letters. Hand drawn and coloured paintbrush and paint blobs for further embellishment.

If  you click here  you will be taken to the Kathyrn Wheel  blog and get a look at all the other journals that are being created for this  year long challenge.   We have to journal every day in the form of 12 monthly calender pages, it's been great fun. Never too late to join in!

I'm late, I'm late.........

This is the first time I have not completed my calendar journal on time, life has been a bit busy here.  I have n embellished my journal as much as I would have liked, but hopefully now that Regional Day is over, next month's pages should be more interesting.  I have yet to make my July pages, with a bit of luck if the appointment hubby and I have tonight doesn't go on to long (I don't hold out much hope of that!) I might get started.  This challenge was set up by Kate of  the blog Kathyrnwheel, follow the link to see all the journals that are taking part in this challenge.

Kezzy had an appointment at the dentist this morning to plan the next step of her orthodontic treatment, as it didn't take long, I was able to start on my pages for July before going to work.  

As it was Kezzy's Prom on Sunday, I used the colour of her dress and the balloons she came home with as my inspiration.

I prepared the pages with a coat of gesso first.

When dry, I  used these paints, in various shades of blue and applied them with a sponge in a random manner.  Tonight, because the meeting had been postponed until tomorrow evening, I was able to carry on with July.  I sprayed over the pages with Angel Glimmer Mist in Jazz Blue.

I have wanted to break away from square boxes for my journalling, so this month was an ideal opportunity to do so. I cut out stars in white card and outlined them roughly with a fine pen.  Once applied to the page, I dabbed more Glimmer mist with a sponge over them to take the starkness off of them.  Sequin stars were applied randomly over the page.  It was only after I had finished that I realised that the stars are very appropriate for this month - July 4th, Idependence Day in U.S.A.

 Just need now, to start journalling on them.

A quiet month.

 Looking at May's Calendar pages, just shows how unproductive I have been!!
Family life has been quite full on, Kezzy working for her GCSE's and Mitch having lost his job has been usettled. Saturday, he got the news that his Step Nanny Marge(his sisters true Nan) had died and then his  Grandad was rushed to hospital with a severe stroke, so late Saturday night I was driving up the A12 to take him to Colchester hospital.  His Grandad died this morning and he is staying with his Nan to help her for a little while, at least until the two funerals are over.

This months pages are pink, very pink.  My youngest is 16 this month and although she is not girly, I wanted to challenge myself to work in this colour.
I made the pages by:-
Coating the paper with a base of gesso.  When dry, I used Blonde Moments Sugar Dumpling Lustre paint in Sugar Lilac and Sugar Hot.  When dry, I stencilled with white paint through 2  different Crafters Workshop Stencils that I have.  I outlined the butterflies with a fine drawing pen. Fabric ironed onto Craft Vilene for the words. Sentiment stamped on with Brilliance Lightning black and 'lace'border cut using a Martha Sewart punch.
To see other calender pages follow the link:- thekathrynwheel

Keeping up.

I have managed to complete my March April  pages for the Calendar Journal Challenge. To view other journals taking part in this challenge, click on the link here.

My May pages are complete and ready for me to start journalling on. To make them, I used  Eco Friendly Ocean and Kaiser Turquoise with white on a gessoed background.  

 Reeves Lime Yellow was used to stencil through sequin waste.  Spirals were stamped with Stampin' Up Teal.  Letters were painted with Kaiser Turquoise and double embossed with transparent powder.

Flowers stamped onto a very old Needlework magazine (1950's), coloured with Cosmic Shimmer Aqua paint.

3 down, 9 to go!

I am still on track with the Calendar Challenge, see more pages here 

I have finished embellishing April's pages now,it is the month of my 11th wedding anniversary, the symbol of which is steel.  The colours represent the colour scheme of my Wedding, and I have used metal embellishments to represent steel, hence 11 flowers too! To colour the pages to look like steel, I first applied paynes grey to the gessoed surface. When dry, I painted over in silver, and then again when dry, another coat of paynes grey and silver mixed together.  The final coat when dry was black Quink ink.   I love getting the inks and paints out to create my pages, but they are very much in the style of a scrapbook.  I would love to be able to make them more journally.
I have had a computer problem this morning.  When I switched on, I found some returned emails that I knew I hadnt' sent.  Checked my sent mail box and it seems someone has hacked into my address book and sent out mail to everyone in it, for a certain sort of medication.  I need to get my son Rhodri to help and advise me when he gets home tonight.  Sorry to anyone who has got a random email from me.

Saturday, came and went in a flash.

Time to do much creating seems a bit thin on the ground at the moment-life happens!

Too tired to do very much Friday night after the mammoth weekly shop, I just stuck a few squares in my Calendar Journal ready fro next month, just need to embellish it now.
After taking Mitch to the dental surgeon on Saturday, I stopped at Barleylands to do some retail therapy-I needed Craft Vilene.  Denise has just had a delivery of Auorfil threads and gave me a sample to try. I have read about them on some of the blogs I visit. Soooooo, I just had to buy a couple more to see how they stitch.  Alas they are still sitting in the bag, waiting to  be unpacked.

Saturday afternoon, was spent in Chelmsford, killing time, Mitch was meeting his Mother for the first time since all the problems at Christmas, trying to heal the rift.  I love this flower stall, it always a riot of colour.

Something I didn't expect to find in the High Street, was this tippee.  It was full of children listening to a storyteller.
After picking Mitch up, it was then out to dinner at a friends, completely unexpected.

Bits and pieces.

When I went shopping to get some more fresh fruti this morning, I couldn't believe the size of this pomegranite, it is about the size of a Galia melon. 

I have managed to complete this book tonight

And I just need to sew the ends in on this pink one and add beads to the threads.

Played with April's journal page too.  When Hubby and I got married in 2000, the colour for the year was lavendar and silver, as it is our anniversary next month, I have chsen those colours for the pages.

Parents evening tonight meant that I was late home from work.  Too tired to do any machine stitching, I did some work on my calendar challenge journal so it is up to date and got all the requirements needed for FET on Saturday.  It does not seem possible that our exhibition at Art Van Go finishes on Saturday, where did that month go?

Thinking ahead.

I just need to play with some paints and get messy this morning before work. So, although this months journal page has only just started, I have been thinking about what I would do for April.  Next month I will have been married 11 years, so googled it to find out what it represented- it's steel.   In 2000, the colours for the Millennium was silver and lilac, so I have painted my pages silver and will cut the journal squares from the above paper that has been painted, sprayed and stamped.  I have now got plenty of time to think how I will embellish the pages.

Another month completed!!!!

 One advantage of starting work at Midday, is that I had a good light for auditioning threads ready for  working on the sky.

February has flown by, and I have managed to keep my journal up to date.

Lots of hearts as it is the month for romance.

I have also enrolled on Louise's on line Altered Jewellery Course.  She does some great work and I have a fancy to try out Steampunk- I kept hearing that word and not really known what it was about until tonight.

Challenge continued.

 I am really enjoying the Calendar Challenge, so much so, that I just had to finish making my pages for March.
Hubby has been keeping himself busy- painting all these little lead figures for his model layout.

I have put a penny coin there, for you to see how tiny the figures are.  This cat is painted to look like our cat Jack. 

As it has been such a wet day, I have been busy cooking- bread pudding, fruit Charlotte, and Shepherds Pie, (A rare offering in my house!  Hubby usually only gets Shepherds Pie when we go to my Mothers as I hate making it!)

Not much to show tonight.  I decided to colour some pages in readiness for making into journal sqaures for March.  The problem began trying to find a big enough space to lay out the paper.  In the end, I ended up colouring it on the floor.  Time for a tidy up I thought.  I now have my desk surface back, though for how long remains to be seen.

I have also done a bit more to Che's face, but not enough to be worthwhile posting.

I didn't get much done creatively last night, as Kezzy needed help with her anthology homework. Luckily no homework  tonight has meant that I could 'play'.
The first thing I did was to get my Calendar journal up to date.  I have even started to colour the pages ready for next month, rather that leaving it to the first day of the month.
Then it was onto  Che.  I have drawn his face onto water soluble and then started to machine stitch. Lots more machine stitching tomorrow night.

 Now that my thumb is as last better, I have manged to finish making the little boat for my youngest Grandson, Zach.  I posted a photo of the hull last weekend, just after I had painted it.  In the cold light of day, I decided it looked to pristine and bright, so applied another coat of gesso to it.  I shall start working on the boat  for Josh next week.

I also got out my paints and pencils to do the first few day of February in my journal.

1 down, 11 to go!

 I have managed to stay discaplined enough to complete the first month of my calendar challenge.  Then it was out with the paints to get the pages made for February.

I stuck two pages together with PVA, to make them stronger, then covered them with gesso( I am using an A3 sketchbook) When dry, the pages were sprayed with Craftynotions Creative  Colour spray-Olive.

 I had a rummage in my cupboard and found some spare chipboard letters which I coloured with Brusho, red as it is Valentines Day this month.  Also used red Brusho to colour some paper to make my little journal boxes.  I don't normally use red, but luckily it has not come out to strong a colour for me to work with.

Stamped 'love' on a page from an unloved book and cut out.  Ready now to start on this months journalling.
Thumb still throbbing but I hope to start stitching again tomorrow- it's so frustrating!!!

Paint, fabric and thread. :0)

 I have not made any patchwork blocks since finishing my C&G, but I have really enjoyed making these basic blocks for the Oz comfort quilts appeal, the Moda fabrics are so colourful.  I have only completed three so far, as although I didn't want to, I had to go exploring in my large packing crate to look for backing fabric.( I cant get the lid back on now!)  I would like to post off six blocks to start with, not sure what the postal charges will be.

I have also done a bit more to my Calendar journal, not falling behind YET!!!
Last but not least, I have painted a piece of fabric ready to start work on my ALQS5. 

2nd attempt.

I have enjoyed making these pages.I have made my boxes two and a quarter inches square so they shouldn't need that much time to journal-well that's my thinking at the moment.  Only two days left to fill in and then I will be up to date.  I have used my Koh-I-Noor stacking paints to colour in the little images in some of the boxes.

Duhh!!!

Trying to be different and use a different shape sketchbook for the Calendar Challenge has not paid off.  Start afresh tomorrow!!

Messy time.

Feeling in the need to splosh a bit of paint around, it didn't take me long to decide to join in with this calendar challenge.  I have to do a bit of catching up but not that much to make it impossible.  I painted the pages with Prussian Blue Brusho. When dry, I used a Tattered Angels mask of  bare tree with Crafty Notions  Creative Colour Spray in Silver, hoping to create  frosty trees.  Unfortunately the spray blobbed a fair bit, not a problem though, as most of this will be covered up by the little squares that I shall be writing on.  Cant remember the last time I had my paintbrushes out!