Some Scrapbooking

As I have said, I have been very creative these holidays, but lot of what I have been making I can't show just yet! So I thought you might like to see some scrapbooking. Some of these LOs were done month or two ago but have been waiting to be finished off with either a title or a bit of journalling. About two evenings ago I sat down and decided to do just that as I creep on through the photos from 2010 still.

This first one is of the Batucada at Heathfield Carnival and also the primary school where I work. I helped to run a Carnival Club where the children made this withy sun, a shark and some fish to hold.

This is my lot on Pevensey Beach last summer. Funny that, I don't remember last summer being nice enough for the beach...

Inside my CJ.

My great idea for my page was to create a rock pool. I could see exactly how I wanted it to look but was rather less sure how to achieve it!

I started by using Distress Inks to colour my page and made some "rocks" from paper clay. When it dries it is super lightweight so once painted in "rocky" colours I fixed them on to make the general shape. Next I filled it with Glossy Accents...about half a bottle it took! I added all sorts of everthing seasidey that I had found in my stash. There are beads, glitter, teeny shells and some nasty plastic shapes that I covered with gesso to make them less nasty looking! Then I realised that I hadn't actually used my stamp! So I popped it into the pool too. Finally I had to lay it somewhere flat, weighted at the edges, to try and prevent it curling.

The opposite page I coloured to match, stamped and then ran through the printer (holding my breath all the time, cos I am always positive that it is going to print in the wrong place!) to get the quote in.

And to finish, a close up shot of the pool and its bits. Oh and I just remembered, I put sand design paper in the bottom of the pool! (Sorry about the shadow).

The latest CJ

Some weeks ago I started a CJ with a group of friends I have met through scrapbooking. Four of the girls have not done a CJ before so we decided just to start with something small, no real rules, just to see if they enjoyed the process. I have done 4 of the 5 entries that I need to do and I won't show them yet (as I know you lot will be sneaking a peek!) but I thought I could safely show my book. Today I will just show the cover and rules bits and then tomorrow I will show you my entry. So here is the front cover; I decided to use the shell stamp to send round with it. This is painted and embossed with a pearly powder.

Nice close up of the pearlyness!

Inside are my intro page and rules. Nice bit of bubble wrap printing on the left;

My rules page was done with a salt technique and my rules are that they must use the stamp and also include a quote if they like.

So off it went. Will show you more tomorrow.

Altered Tuna Tin

Do you remember that I recently did a swap with an altered sardine tin? Well after that we decided to alter a tuna tin! I am very late with this because I was waiting for inspiration and then once I'd had it I was waiting for clock parts! We have a clock repair shop nearby and my daughter wanted some bits for a textiles project. They said they would save her a few broken bits and pieces so when she collected them she let me have a rummage and take some cogs and hands. This is a poor photo but I put them on a spindle (so there are three layers including the hand) and then added the vintage lady between them. The flower I made after seeing it in this months CraftStamper magazine. The outside is covered with metal from a beer can that I heated in the gas flame (to turn it brown) and then embossed with the cuttlebug cogs and gears. Finally I used another cog as a base and posted her off to my swap partner!

A night at Arlington

I don't know about you, but we collect Tesco vouchers through the year and then spend them on days out in the summer hols, especially if we don't go away. This year we decided to go to Thorpe Park so we ordered tickets, got day all sorted, hubby had rest day......and they didn't arrive in time. So, as we haven't done anything as a family yet these hols we went to the Banger Racing at Arlington last night. Well it's not all Bangers; there were 9 race in total, 2 heats and a final for each of three class of car. First were the Superstox. This was meant to be non contact but there was still a bit of pushing and shoving!

Then came the 2.0 Hot Rods. These were the most exciting to watch, driving really fast and sooo close together...

Not a great example for stopping distance! I don't know how they managed it but they didn't seem to touch despite only being millimetres apart.

And lastly came the Bangers. These ones look quite intact but behind the blue car is a red one in clouds of smoke! This wasn't a Demolition Derby but a serious race but being contact there was lots of spinning, banging, crashing and barging just feet from where we sat! A fab but noisy and dusty night and well worth a visit.

Not the best photos but I only had my little camera as Katy was using the big one to get pics for her course work.

Patchwork panel

Just bear with me whilst I explain what is going on with this patchwork panel! One Monday a month or two ago, whilst I was in Burnice's cabin with Linda, I was flipping through a book when I saw a friendship quilt. A group of friends had each made a panel and then joined them all together. We decided that we would do something similiar for a Christmas present for each other. So we formed our take on it; each of us would buy 2 fat quarters and give one to each of the other two people. They would then use this fabric somewhere in a 12x12 panel to give back to the buyer as a Christmas gift. Then we would each make our own panel which gave us three panels towards our quilt. But what to do for the fourth one? Last month we decided that we should do a panel to represent Burnice's cabin where we all meet once a month. Linda had some magazines with her so we drew out a pattern from one, adapted it, and are all using the same one for our final panel. So after that lengthy explanation here is my version!

I thought this strip of ribbon was particularly suitable as it sums up our "craft" sessions! I learnt a new skill; pattern piecing I think it's called and it gives these really neat crisp lines. I have also been busy making Burn's panel (but obviously can't show you yet) and started Linda's too.

Maybe I will show you mine.....

Art Journal Week 32

This week the prompt is "Sport, do you love/hate it? What sport would you like to try? Include some stamped rings/circles". Straight away I thought of the Olympic Rings so I painted my page white, (oo scary colour!)and stamped the rings using a milk bottle top. Once again I felt I had a lot to write so I just wrote it! I never really thought about it but I really only do watch the Olympics. I have to say the Winter Games are the best with some very exciting sports but I also enjoy some of the others. I will watch a bit of the last week of Wimbledon but these days I just don't have the time to spend on following it for the whole 2 weeks.
All that being said I am now running for the first time since I was about 6! I have run a mile every day for a month and now I am a bit fitter I am extending it and changing to every other day. Let's hope I can keep it up.