Some more art journalling backgrounds

A quick snoop in town earlier and I found these lovely magnets reduced from £5 to £1 in Marks and Spencers. They're a tad too bright for anywhere in my house and I can't see they'd get used in the garden either (where they were meant for?) but I did think they might make good stencils, stamps and masks and I was right. I had a quick play earlier at using them as a mask on a background I'd already painted and this was the result which I was quite pleased with. I added a bit of fine glitter before the paint dried and they now shimmer slightly.

I've since used the bird one as a stamp and that works really well. I think tomorrow I'll doodle over the top of it using the magnet as a stencil and see what that looks like too. Watch out for that appearing on a complete AJ page soon. :)

Dabbling a toe in the Art Journalling world

I've seen some great examples of Art journalling recently and will admit to being more than a little curious and in fact, possibly jealous at their talent. A thread on UKS about AJing popped into my attention so after spending 2 nights reading it all through, I was convinced I wanted a go to see if it was for me.

I have to say that I've really enjoyed myself and although these first pages aren't great, I can see lots of potential for this in the future perhaps for those things that I want to record but I don't want to dedicate a layout too. I'm also finding that some of the enjoyment is coming from the sense of their being no right or wrong. I don't think I'd have ever dared to paint over PP in a scrapbook like this in case it didn't work (I'm such a perfectionist!) and yet in my AJ it doesn't seem to matter somehow. Perhaps I'm making scrapping less about me and my memories and more about pretty pages and getting it 'right' and therefore I'm forgetting what I actually love about this hobby in the first place.

Anyway, didn't mean to start getting all meaningful! This is my first 'finished' AJ page although it's actually the second one I started working on. I'm not quite sure about the rain drops but I'm not bothered enough to change them! lol.

This is the first page I started working on but it's not complete yet. I think I'll be changing the 'B' at some point as I don't like it. Suggestions on how to do this welcome. I also need to find some images to start collaging on my pages.

More altered files...

Just a bit more file altering for me today. These folders weren't in such a bad condition as yesterdays but they were still pretty dull so I reached for some cute owl print wrapping paper that I bought from Paperchase and those badges that I bought from there last week (previously blogged). This is what resulted:

(Good look at my hob in this shot!) ;-)

Altered lever arch files

I can't believe that by this time next week my maternity leave will be officially over and I'll have done my first day back at school. It seems like the time has flown by, yet December was such a long time ago and it feels like Emma has been in our lives forever. Absolute madness!

Anyhow, in preparation for my return I've been into school organising all the lovely new furniture that was ordered for my room and generally getting things into place. However, a lot of my folders were looking rather tatty especially as I've had some of them since before I graduated in 2003! In the name of recycling though, I couldn't bring myself to throw them away as they were still usable so I thought that I'd attempt to re-cover them first.

I bought myself some kraft wrapping paper from Paperchase which I unrolled before sticking the file on top and cutting a piece that would wrap neatly around the folder leaving a good inch of border. I then stuck this down carefully using adhesive from my ATG gun.I then decorated the front cover using some patterned papers and elements from the Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg line including some chipboard pieces to give dimension and interest. I added some ribbon and pearls from my stash. Along the spine, I used some more remnants of paper, some AC thickers and another chipboard piece. Finally, I covered the entire folder with some sticky back plastic (get me, sounding all Blue Peter-ish!) to protect it from damage, childrens sticky fingers and coffee spillages!

Voila! One unique, gorgeous and completely scrummy folder ready for next term. Now if only I could make my planning as appealing as this....

Look what I made!

Finally! It's finished! This window seat cushion project has been on the go for about a year. Some days I get these great ideas and then months later I wonder what I was thinking! Mum and I have worked on it in pieces and last week I pressed her to get it finished so she showed me what I needed to do. We then tried the foam in it (which didn't fit!) and also realised that we'd put the zip in the wrong place (!) so I spent the weekend unpicking all the stitches, re pinning and tacking the boxing in the right place and then resewing it all. I did have to trim the foam slightly (it hung over the edge of the seating) but it now fits the cushion and the cushion fits the bay. Yay! I'm sure mum will probably see some areas where we could adjust it to improve it but for now I'm happy that we have somewhere else to sit.

Before:

After:

UKS August week 3 challenge

Just a quick LO post today with last weeks challenge from UKS.

Challenge was:

• Celebration theme
• 3 of something
• Add bunting
• Use either pink or blue as main colours.

I thought I did pretty well with this. What do you think?

Fabby Fiddle Farting Giveaway

Helen over at Fiddle Fart is celebrating her 1st Blogging birthday with a fabby giveaway. Definitely worth checking out here

Living it up on a Friday night!

I was clearing out my new classroom ready for the start of the term and in amongst all the junk to be thrown away was this jar of lovely buttons. Now, I'm not one to waste an opportunity so I salvaged it and tonight, I've finally had a good chance to sort through them and replenish my button tins. A lot of them were plain cream and black ones but I'm pleased to now have loads of larger buttons as well as some fabric ones and some that look kinda vintagey. I was also chuffed with this collection of wooden and metally ones as I don't have any like that. I'm not sure how easy they'll be to attach to layouts etc but I'll have a go anyhow.

In town today, I was pleased to see that we have a new super big Poundland and as this is the opposite end of town to the other store I have no excuse for not popping in now when I'm shopping. Mum and I decided to check it out and this week, there wasn't much I wanted (I'm still looking for the Shrek cookie cutters) but I did find this pack of diamond bling which I could see being used on some Christmas cards and if not, layouts. I also popped into Paperchase and found these cute pin badges reduced to £1.25 and £1.90 each (not sure why they weren't the same price but hey, ho) which I thought I could take the backs off of and use them as scrapbook embellishments. I especially like the ones with the little birdies.

Do you have any of those projects which seem like a good idea at the start and gradually you realise your mistake? Well, I'm currently in the midst of one of them!
My dining table is covered in the pieces of a window seat cushion that I started sewing ages ago. It was one of those projects that I started after seeing my SIL making items for her home and thinking 'How hard could that be?' As we have bay window with a fitted window seat, a comfy cushion a la 'Friends' seemed like an ideal item to do however, after nearly a year of it, I've found out that it's actually harder than it seems. lol!
Mum has been helping me (lots) but I'm fairly sure that the seamstress gene skipped a generation in me. So far we've made the cushion pattern and bought the material and foam padding and mum has taught me to cut and hem the material to stop it fraying and we've made the boxing and added the zip.
We're really just at the home stretch now trying to tack and sew the pieces together and it's gradually taking shape although it's been so long now, I'm just desperate to get it finished! K wants to think about putting our house on the market after Christmas so I desperately need to finish it so that I can at least get some wear out of it (either that or we'll have to buy a house which has an identical window seat!)

In between times I've made Jacks Cbeebies birthday card this week and K has taken it in to work and dropped it off. No doubt on the day we'll be on 'Birthday Time' watch eagerly trying to spot whether our card made it. It had to be Postman Pat as Jack is amd about him. The present lifts up and Jacks photo is underneath. I'm so sad as I told K that I hope Andy reads it out as I have a smallish crush on him. I'm sure it's wrong to fancy childrens TV presenters but given that's all I really watch nowadays it's hardly surprising.


I've also been 'harvesting' my home grown veg this week. We've been trying to grow own own mainly as an experiment as to what we can grow ourselves and to try and get J a bit more interested into veg and teach him how things grow. He's turning out to be an excellent 'seed waterer' (everything is a seed to him, even if it's fully grown!) and knows all the different fruit and veg that are growing.

This is my potato harvest (bloomin' lovely roasted with some salt but a pain to grow- wouldn't bother again) along with the smallest carrots ever. In my defence, they were a small variety (not that small!) although in the carrots defence, Jack has dug them up umpteen times. My tomatoes are also ripening so they got roasted too and we steamed some green beans too, which are Emmas favourite.
Emma does love her food as witnessed in these pics taken yesterday. Obviously, using a spoon to eat your weetabix is so last season. Sticking your hands straight in is much more 'now'.

She also does a great Dale Winton impression! Gotta love those cheeks!

Right, must get on with that sewing!

This is more of an aide memoire for me but I've been looking for some handmade sewing items to make as a gift and I've found these links on different blogs so I want to save them somewhere where I can find them again when I'm ready to do them.

Felt monsters
Easy owl pattern
Doorstop
Tin can organiser

K and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this weekend so I took a quick pic of us before we went out for a meal. It's good to look back on the last 5 years and see how we've changed. I think the dark circles and lines around our eyes tell their own story!

This year:

Last year:

Five years ago:

Another giveaway...

Tracy has another fabby giveaway on her blog if anyone fancies a wander over there to enter?

FOR SALE: One toddler. Potty trained (just). Can be cute but blink and you'll miss it. One volume (loud). Would suit early riser (6am) Will need feeding and watering (on a regular basis) Will happily tell you if that wasn't what he ordered. Short attention span unless you're Postman Pat or Fireman Sam, in which case nothing else will exist. Doesn't understand the word 'no' although 'why?' and 'what's that?' seem to occur regularly in his speech. Has sixth sense as to when you have sat down/gone to the loo/made a cuppa/reached for the biscuit tin. No refunds accepted over the next few years (or until DD reaches same age whereby I'll consider an exchange).*

Yes, it's been another one of 'those' weekends and red wine, chocolate hobnobs and an early night seem to be the only cure. Please tell me it'll pass!

*Note to any weirdos reading this- I'm joking. My son isn't for sale. I'd never inflict that on another person.

Long time no see, huh?

Anyway, after having a mini meltdown at the weekend over the fact that I never get any 'me time', my mates Jo and Kim over at '3Jollyscrappers' emailed to advertise their all day crop in September and, more excitingly, an all day workshop in November with Tracy Hudson!!! Yay! Needless to say, I didn't wait too long before booking my place.

If you don't know who Tracy is, check out her blog here!

Happy days!