Apologies as it has been a LONG time since last post.

Well nearly a month which is long to me and totally breaks my once a week new years resolution. Alot has been going on in my life and I am not quite through it yet but I wanted you who still read this to know I am still here, art moving along slowly and will be back to this more often.

I am now a single gal as my partner of 7 years Sam decided he no longer wanted to be with me. We had been engaged for 3 years and although being apart alot over the last 2 years had taken its toll and that we had been very up and down the last couple of weeks, I thought we were going to work on it and make it through. He kept confirming we were going to work on it but as you can see we are not.

So work has been busy which has been keeping me together to a certain extent as I had an important presentation yesterday but following that I have been rather an emotional shambles today, especially with the feedback of the Professor slating us yetserday on me. We are still going to be living together as with the house prices we cannot afford to sell the house and neither of us can move out at the moment. Trying to keep it friendly (he still wants to be friends) but people have helped me realise thats great for him but not for me and that I need to distance myself from him so am in no friendship mode as it hurts to be friends as it feels like nothing has changed. I don't know if he's realised we're not being friends but I kept to my own room yesterday watching "he's just not that into you" that obviously made me cry like a baby :)

So arts not so much happening at the moment although have been still cross stitching so got things moving along. I am to America for 3 weeks on the 25th August, staying with my family just outside DC and very much looking forward to it. Will be just the space and break I need.

So hope you are all well out there and I will hopefully be a bit more present on here.

Cockerel stitching complete

Thats right, after starting something new I picked up at hobbycraft the other weekend back in London, sitting with my friend stitching whilst she was knitting watching Taken, we were discussing how it can be hard with long projects and you just have to get over the hump. Well the cockerel stitching has been close to being finished for quite a while and I just hadn't done it so when I got back I pushed on with it and finally completed it. So here it is for all to see. Now I just have to decide how I am going to mount it ready to take with my to give to Angie as her birthday present. I am thinking maybe a place mat or something. (Add in picture).

I am now determined to push on and complete the Noah's Ark picture I have been working on for like a couple of years because I have the frame for it and everything, it just needs completing! It is another hump that I will get over!

Note: Having issues getting pictures off my camera so will add this at later date.

too long since an update

can't believe its been like over 10 days since an update. I had done so well with my once a week update for my new years resolution but I will keep at it. Mainly not very much on the art front has been going on and with Easter and us being away visiting Sam's parents I didn't really go online. What I did do was quite a bit of stitching so it is coming along nicely.


As for the rats, they are growing well too. Looking cuter everyday and part of us wishes we could keep them all but its not possible. Plus if you look at the cage suddenly it can freak you out if they are all at the front. Its like Ah. So much going on un-art related at the moment, trying to finish one assignment for weds and then one for the week after. Also got an interview on Monday for a role due the restructure of RM. Alot to think about and arts not getting a look in with all my time disappearing. Although maybe now is the time for Art to get some of my feelings out.

Cockerel Progress

Not alot has been going on the art front round here as its been a super busy week at work. I have had a nice relaxing weekend though. Today I painted some backgrounds for one of the journals I have. The main thing that has progressed is the stitching I am working on. I want to get it finished so I can move on to another piece or move back onto the noah's ark piece to finally finish it. So my plan is to crack on with this although I am thinking about having some relaxing fun making a couple of zen ATC's.

However on the Rat front they are getting bigger. We cleaned them out today so got to have a proper play with the babies. Here is a picture of the oldest litter who have got fur and ears but cannot see yet.

bits and bobs

Its fun making use of the leftovers and using the cut-off's of the photo's I used for the scrapbooking was super fun. There was something intriguing about the bits of photo's being put together. Its like you are looking in on something but you don't quite know what it is so you have to put it together yourself. Well thats what I think anyway but thats the beauty of putting it all together. What will the viewer discover!

Here is an update of the cockerel stitching, see bit by bit it is getting there, who knows I might be finished by the middle of the year :) Well hopefully sooner than that, then I can find a new piece to create. I need days and days of free time and no work to catch up on all the fun and arty things and turn some of my idea's into reality

Sorting leads to more mess

I have a couple of days off work which is nice. Got leave to use up so took a couple of days. I was trying to sort through some stuff yesterday which only led to me rediscovering fab bits to use plus a couple of pieces of stitching I had started. So I decided to finish one of them which is a halloween piece. Its all completed not although there are supposed to be lots of french knots on it but I tried and tried and could not do them so I am leaving them off. Its look fine without it. I managed to do french knots well once for a Tatty Ted piece but rarely use them so then when it comes to doing them somehow they just don't work out.



I have also been doing a little journalling. Am planning to hit the post office tomorrow with many packages so wanted to get some things completed. One of which is Shirley's journal, part of the swap. I will be sending it on although have not received another one yet but thats good because otherwise I'd worry. Here is a page from it, I did a couple of others but don't want to give it all away cos I might not do anything else and then what will I chat about :) Although with the free time I am hoping to do some fun pieces :)

Slow and steady

I have been plodding along bit by bit with my stitching and so it slowly progresses. So much for my at least one a month from the calender. Its nice to get one a day but how would anyone stitch one a day :)



Been doing little bits in this journal which is part of a swap in my penpal group on livejournal. I need to get it sent on but still want to do a couple of pages. So I need to find the time. Plus its finding time to go to the post office. Damn them and their being open only during working hours :) Got many packages to send which I need to pack up and get down there. Still haven't had a proper chance to enjoy my awesome scrapbook kit and the many other bits I have bought from hobbycraft recently. Maybe this weekend.

Awesomest kit

I got some of the most awesome stuff. Firstly is this awesome scrapbooking kit which I picked up from CostCo when we joined at the weekend. It was worth joining up for that alone as it has sooooo many different pieces in it as well containing an 8" scrapbook and a 12" scrapbook. I had a look at some of the bits and plan to make some time to really think about what pages I want to create as I have so many photos. The question is when I will find the time.



Then my friends Jenny and Steve sent me awesome birthday gift, one of which was Watchmen Comic and the other was a make your own wire jewellery which looks awesome. I am already thinking what beads I could get to make great stuff and haven't even started making anything yet. There is this great bead shop on Gloucester road where you can get lessons in making jewellery and they sell loads of beads. Once I get the hang of it, I am totally heading there for some great beads.



Yesterday I watched Juno which was a great film, really loved it and whilst doing that I also continued with my cross stitch which was nice as it meant I managed to get quite a bit done and I felt like I really made use of my time by doing two things at once which was nice. Its not moving as quickly as I would wanted to work on at least one a month and we are nearly at the end of Feb. So much to do, so little time.

Shopping and Art

This weekend has been an awesome weekend firstly because I had no plans, no commitments, nothing I had to do. That included any thoughts about college or work, having been off work for a week so no idea what I could worry about and having had my final exam Friday and had many drinks to celebrate it meant this weekend was all mine. So having started working on my cockerel I decided to pop to hobby craft to get the extra threads I need to complete it and ended uo buying all this stuff. As you can see I bought my threads but also picked up a book on rubber stamping which was on sale as were the 30 ink pads so hoping to have some fun playing around with all that at some point. Then picked up some ribbon as it was 3 for 2, plus are great for sending to other people.

So having been to hobby craft I go busy and made a couple of ATC's which I haven't done in ages which was nice. One is complete, and one is nearly complete. They are both so I can send returns for my unusual alphabet swap which I am very behind with.

Having had that fun, I spent some of last night and today continuing my cross stitch whilst we watched Hitman which was cool. And then I have done some more today. After Sam left this afternoon I decided to paint some journal page backgrounds which was fun. Its been a while since I got any paints out and I bought some new brushes the other day so having a bit of a play around was good. So they are currently drying by the patio doors whilst I had a quick flick through a magazine and got some great bits and pieces from it that I am planning to use for some journal pages of the future. I have quite a few journals on the go at the moment. I have one that is going between myself and Lia, I have a journal in a group swap so I am just working in the final one for that although we might start a new round. Can't wait to see mine. Then I have joined a journal swap on a penpal community on Livejournal which is just starting. Then I have a journal from an ATC group swap although this might be the last one as due to them having taken so long and been way-layed we are sending them back to the owners. So as you can alot of journal action has been happening all whilst ploughing along whilst watching tv with my cross stitching which is starting to take shape now.

Cluck Cluck

Firstly I made a start on my cross stitching project that I showed previously. As you can see its not got far yet but I an working on it, my exams are weds and fri so then I will have more time for these sorts of things.

I also did a journal page today whilst watching Phantom of the Opera and catching up on correspondence. Got a thing about patterns but I did enjoy creating it, there is just something about the squares and the way they are made up of squares.
Apart from that its been all work and revision round here. But not for too much longer.

injured foot

Thats right during a fun weekend in Cardiff, I have injured my foot. We were staying in a nice hotel and getting in their swimming pool Saturday afternoon I slipped along the edge of the step, you wouldn't have thought much of it, apart from hurting lots. And this is the current state of my foot. It doesn't hurt generally but maes walking a little difficult at times. But that didn't stop us heading out for some drinking that night and dancing at an 80's club called Reflex. All the 80's music was awesome so we had a good laugh and headed back to the hotel sometime past 11.

As for Art, none was done over the weekend although I did do some revision yesterday afternoon at the hotel. I need to do some more this evening as well as my exams are just over a week away. However I have a plan for some cross stitching. I got a cross stitch pattern a day calender which is awesome and I plan to complete as many as I can this year (well that I like anyway). So here is the first one I plan to do, Angie in America loves cockerals so I thought she would like this. I like to cross stitch for others otherwise my house would be way too full of cross stitched stuff :) Plus its nice to give gifts.

Busy busy busy

Thats right as usual I have been busy and so my Art has suffered as has this poor blog. But part of it is a lack of time management which I have been studying recently in my CIPD course and so I plan to better at that. Plus I plan to try and update this more as I do little things even if they are only parts of projects and this will keep me in link with my online art buddies.

So today was wet day here in the UK and I got very soaked and cold due to no umbrella. I walked to work from the station to find the Mail Centre on Fire which meant I spent the next 40mins in the carpark before heading back to the station to get back on a train to Bristol. I was very cold and wet. But quick trip home for a change of clothes and then into Bristol Mail Centre to work.

In terms of Art I received my journal back from Lia at the weekend which made me a happy bunny. We had started so well with our work switch back each month but over the end of summer and recently we have both been busy. However both of us have swapped back which gives us a chance to work in our own journals again before switching again. I am going to plan some time in over the next couple of weeks to work in it so I can switch back again. Its fun to see Lia's work and the excitement when you get the journal with new work in is fun.

I have also been cross stitching recently but a pre-prepared pack. I bought a hello kitty bookmark which I am stitching for my friend Frances which I hope to send to her soon as a surprise.

I have also started my Christmas Cards (yes thats right) as the moment its just a couple of small things but I have chosen a couple of designs and painted the front of one card at the weekend to see how well it works. I am test running that design and I will see how the card turns out. So I will keep you all updated.

I don't have any photo's as I cannot find my cable at the moment to link my camera to my computer but once I do there will be some pictures to share. Hopefully I will find it tonight!

Love to all my arty friends and those I haven't met yet :)

No craft from Paris

I did no crafting in Paris so there has been an absence of crafting recently. Last night I did some cross stitching whilst watching Catch and Release (I had seen it once already but wanted to watch it with Sam too). It is still the Noah's Ark piece which I find tough to work on, normally I would start doing a small piece and come back to the big piece but with my resolve to finish it before starting something new, this has not happened. I just need to get it out at all times whilst watching TV or something and keep working on it.So this is the last Round III Journal I worked in. You can't read the words but its just saying about the journey of live, growing as we go and learning lessons. It was nice to make use of some of the material flowers as often I am unsure of how to make use of these. When I saw the journal and then this paper I knew I wanted to make use of this paper so when I was hunting for how to embellish the flowers seemed perfect. A nice colourful page I think. Just a couple more round III journals to work on at the moment so I need to have look through and seem what inspires me :)

Journalling it up

I was journalling it up at the end of last week as it was just me in the house. The first page is making use of my pastels again. Then I did electro city page. This was making use of bits of a birthday card. I love the colours and the black felt on it so wanted to make use of it somehow. I had already cut an ATC background out of it which I have not used yet and decided to make use of the cut off's. I just started laying them on the page and it made me think of tower blocks and such. Thus electro city was created. The side bits are supposed to be liked bits of cloud coming out of the pipe.

Making use of a zen doodle I did on the train to Leeds over a week ago, I created my Zentangle page. I put the original doodle on and though about how I could extend it. I wanted there to be a difference between the

small page and the large page which lead to the using felt pen instead of pencil. I like the effect it created and the hypnotic feel to the page.

I haven't been doing much paper crafting/journalling this week as have been working on a cross stitch piece I am doing. A noah's Ark for my nephew's birthday in June. I started ages ago intending it for his birthday last year and just didn't work on it for ages so am getting on with it and getting it done.

ATC's, Cross Stitch and more

I got creative the other night and was busy finishing off cards, making news ones and working on a couple of postcards to go out to pen friends. Firstly these are my cross stitch cards which I made for a swap on MixedMediaATC_UK on yahoo. My cards arrived too late for the swap and due to lack of internet over the weekend I was unable to let Amanda know but we are going to do a one for one swap and so she will get to pick from these 3 cards. So the two she doesn't pick will be open for trade. Also I will have my all cross stitch card which I have yet to have refound yet. So if anyone is interested let me know, Always happy to do one for one trades. My favourite of these is the flags card. I like the though of stitching flags so I did this first not really thinking about what the background would be like but once stitched I decided that some different languages behind the flags would bring across the sense of other countries. I think the white paper is polish from a polish newspaper and the more brown paper which was a page I got sent, I think it is spanish but could not tell you for sure. I like the layering effect they gave and that is what inspired me for what I wrote around them.

Then we have this love theme card which seeing as were around valentines it is unsurprising I ended up making a love themed one. I love the material that I put over the top, again sent to me, probably in a grab bag win. You can't see it very well in the picture but I wrote love underneath in red which is what inspired me to call the ATC Hidden Love.

The one below is stitching meets doodle, I like that effect. I sometimes worry that doodle looks rubbish although I love to do it however I think

for this ATC it framed it nicely. Plus its what I wanted to do and enjoyed :)

I also made a couple of valentines card to send to Catherine and

Norma in the states in return for the lovely ones they sent me. Having got some vintage valentine images from the mary davis sampler I decided to have a try with them as I rarely use vintage images using more modern stuff but fancied giving it a go. I like the though of a secret admirer giving flowers. I loved the backgrounds for these, just images I searched out on google images and then printed out thinking how great they would be for back grounds but totally not knowing what was going to go on top of them at the time.

And finally on this creative night, although thinking about it I think it was over a couple of evenings. I made postcards to send to a pen friend. One was a valentines postcard which I don't seem to have a picture of at the moment - the question is did I take one. And the other was making use of some patterns I had printed off forever ago knowing I would love making a postcard from them and then losing them in the ether which turned out to be hidden in a work folder.

So that has been my creativity of late. Apart from that finished watching Season 3 of Lost and loved it. Might have to rewatch them as was really ploughing through them and I like to contemplate what I have seen and thinking about possible future storylines and how linked to previous stuff. Been playing with our new cute guinea pigs. Patch and Takumi. Both boys with black and white coats and such different personalities. Patch is bolder and easier to get a hold of where at Takumi is more jumpy and can run ever so fast, round and round the cage when trying to catch him. But both very good when you get them out, so loving them and spending time taming them. Bit of Guitar Hero last night, got it for my birthday so was loving the new songs to play to. Plus needed to chill after spending most of the day on trains travelling to different meetings. Yesterday was a long work day!

Cross Stitch ATC

As promised here is a picture of my cross stoitched ATC. It was fun to make although of course time consuming doing all the little flowers but I like the effect it has given. I plan to make some other all cross stitch ATC's in the future as it is something different.

Actually I have an article in a cross stitch magazine about people making mail art envelopes all in cross stitch - the put nice pictures on it and stitch the address on and send letters or such in it. I mean I partake in mail art but had never thought of that. It is awesome but can see it would be time consuming. Plus you need to keep stuff in plastic inside incase the envelope gets wet. So I do have a plan to see about making one in the future, I guess the question would be, who would I send it to :)

Hmmmm so many plans. Once I am in the new house though, much time for bringing these plans to life. Today is my last day at work so I have cakies with me and I must get on sorting everything I need to hand over. Then tomorrow is my birthday - wooooo. I start my new placement on tuesday next week so get a few days off :)

Busy journaling weekend

That's right I was a busy bee this weekend, working on a number of journal pages. I have 2 journals currently with me, one is Nathalie's from our journal round swap which is going on and I have a couple more days before I need to send it back and also the Good or Evil Journal which I have had far too long but hadn't done many pages in so wanted to do a few more before I sent it back.
So in Nathalie's journal I have done 2, 2pages spreads. The first I did is around the issues I have had with Sam this weekend and so I did one page with red paper, one page with black paper and then with acrylic paint, did a heart in the middle but with it being the corresponding colour on the opposite page. It was nice to get my acrylic paints out again even though I didn't do much painting with them. I only have a small amount so I don't do backgrounds often and I may start but its fun to do little bits. It gave a really good effect and I wrote in black on the red and silver on the black, crossing over for the hearts. It looks awesome and I will add pictures when I get the loading of my photo's on our computer sorted. It is annoying me not being able to put pictures up because makes the entries more interesting but don't want to not write anything until I have photo's!
The 2nd double page spread was using different scraps of paper which had been left over from other projects. I often throw the bits away but I feel its a waste but then you cannot sometimes see who they can be used so this page is a bit random but it is a celebration of those scraps! It was fun to make.

In the Good or Evil Journal I put light blue card as an underlay and then used acrylic paint to put a few clouds on the page in white. I then used my black journaling pen to put some sentences around the clouds. I thought the page looked a bit empty so wrote some things about why I liked clouds and drew cloud lines round them. Its a peaceful page.
I half started a 2nd double spread for this. Again light blue paper but then I bought some rub ons which had butterflies and bee's and such on and I am going to do something with these but not decided what yet.

So as you can see a good weekend for journaling. I got my arse in gear on Friday night and put together all the grab bags I owed on my blindswapatcs group so got them sent out Saturday morning as well as finally finishing all the rest of H cards and sending them out. I also re found an old cross stitch project I had been working on which I had planned to do for Sam's sisters little boy Glaeken, a nice Noah's ark piece. I start ages ago and as part of my finishing projects before starting new ones so I am working hard to finish this and then I can hopefully think about my new cross stitch project :)

journal page, inchies and more

Thats right, last weekend was really quite productive. I spent a little bit of time in my local library where of course i wandered round and picked out some books but I also went and sat in the upstairs quiet bit and worked on a journal page which I had the idea for quite a while ago but hadn't gotten to give a go yet. So i took my journal and pencils with me and just got on with it. I found it relaxing working there and there was nothing around me to make me think of other things i needed to do plus it was quite quiet and i generally just found it very enjoyable to work on the page there.

I might see about doing it again in the future. Its not often i get a weekend to myself so it was nice to just spend some time somewhere else.

Following on from this i designed another halloween inchie. This time its a ghost - i just drew the design out myself, trying to work out what would look like a realistic ghost as such and then started stitching. I think it turned out well. In the end i posted 3 to bonnie but I am making another set which I plan to send to someone else but I am reversing the colours. So if in bonnies set they were orange, in the other set its purple and vice versa.

And lastly i completed the halloween bear which I have now mounted on some purple card but cannot decide what I want to do with next. Do i make it into just a halloween card to send or do I go for the trick or treat bag. I think I am going to attempt to make a trick or treat bag because i think that would be more fun and something I haven't done before. Then I can send it to family in the states for them to make use of. So following on from this I have now started on my other halloween stitching which I am making for me so when I have my own place and its halloween I can get it out as a decorative picture as such. Its of this cool witch, its from a stitching magazine and I am sure I will show the progress of it on here - well definately when I complete.