Friday 11 June 2010

Arty Crafty Cyber Party

My friends on heART&soul are hosting a Cyber Party over the weekend.  It's our very first cyber event.  If you like to knit, sew, make cards, scrapbook, paint, art journal you may like to have a look firstly at our website: heART&soul and then join our forum where the party is taking place.


I was hoping to play at the party but had the opportunity to come to Florida - so here I am in the Sunshine State - and it's sure living up to its reputation.  Brilliant sunshine and 84 degrees or more.

Sunday 6 June 2010

Art Journaling 301

So having decided to look at what I had already subscribed to with Dina Wakley, I found that although I already had AJ101 and AJ201, she has brought out AJ102 and AJ301. You may have noticed from earlier blogs that I am somewhat addicted to online courses and so of course I had to buy the two courses I hadn't got!!!!!

This time however I was really hooked by AJ301. This is starting an Art Journal from scratch. So for the past few days that's what I've been doing. Just in case I didn't like what I was making I used quite cheap paper which it turned out was not such a good idea! (Keep reading to find out why!)

I tried to stick closely to what Dina was saying in her videos and pdf classes but happily I did wander off a bit - used Distress Inks instead of paint - and have ended up with something similar but not exactly the same. However I've learned a great new technique and when I have the time I shall have another go with other colours and motifs.


The idea was to write my own thoughts and feelings in this journal but I was in a hurry to finish it so instead I used some Unity stamps - Brave Girl - and a set called Quote Bundle, which I bought from Make the Day Special.    The Brave Girl stamps are designed by the same people who have the Brave Girls Club website and send daily emails that are absolutely great.


The difficulty with using cheap paper came when I was sewing the book together.  The spines (or signatures) ripped really easily.   So I will have another go but with better paper.


My reason for getting this finished quickly is that I found a really cheap flight to Florida so I am off on Wednesday for a week to stay with friends.

Lots of craftyness

I can't believe it's over 3 weeks since I last blogged!   I've done such a lot in that time.  Woohoo!

Roger needed to go to Harrogate to a conference on Carbon Capture (don't ask!) and I went with him.  He was able to have the day off either side of the conference so we drove up to Harrogate and visited Harlow Carr Gardens.  


We also drove up Nidderdale and across the moors and round to Malham. We walked up to Malham Cove and up the very steep steps to the Limestone Pavement. We didn't get to Malham until 5.30ish so we got to see this fantastic place on our own.










When Roger was at his conference I was able to go to a workshop at Art From The Heart. I had been wanting to go there for ages and it was great that Dyan was doing a workshop on that date.



Learning how to use Dyan's Downloads!





Later that day we went to Ripon and then drove towards York.  We found a fantastic B&B.   On the Wednesday we walked round York, went on a river trip and visited the Jorvik Museum.    In the late afternoon we went to Beningborough Hall and then drove home.

I loved learning the techniques that Dyan showed us and her designs are beautiful.  As I discussed with her on the day, my problem is that my work is a poor copy of her excellent work and what I need to do is find out what my style is using the techniques I've learned.  I think this is true of all the workshops I've been on with Anneliese and when I've used the Tim Holtz videos as inspiration.

I started to have a look at this ~ using the downloads agin but trying different colours








I haven't really got very far with this - in fact haven't yet strayed very far from Dyan's inspiration.   I got side-tracked!!   Dyan advertised that Dina Wakley was coming to AFTH to teach Art Journaling.   I decided I couldn't afford to go to Harrogate for 3 days especially as I am already booked into a 2 day workshop at the NEC in August.   Then it dawned on me that I had already subscribed to some online courses with DIna which I hadn't finished so perhaps I could finish those instead.........