Christmas Cards

Thats right I actually started making my Christmas Cards after all the talk that I should do it and kind of picking out designs and such. I have a few works in progress however I do have 2 complete christmas cards that I did this weekend :)



I got the idea from a scrapbooking magazine where someone had made a tag/decoration for their tree from buttons which I thought looked cool so I decided to give it a go on a card and it turned out well I think. Luckily I already had quite a few red and green buttons but I did buy some new papers for the background. This is only one of designs, I am working on a couple of others but no finished products yet!
It made me happy to actually make some christmas cards, I just need to keep moving with it. But achievement helps motivate more achievement :)

This is one of our gerbils, we adopted them off Sam's sister. They are quick little things and I did have the other one out to take a picture but it leapt from my hand and I spend 45 mins trying to capture it.

I finally found my camera cable (yep was in the front of my work bag!) and so I though I would do a quick share. This is a page I did in Lia's journal before I snet it back to her. More tissue paper fun.





I do actually have pictures of all the pages but I will save them in case I don't do anymore art this week ;p Also I don't know if Lia has received the journal yet and I don't like to spoil whats in it. Nothing better than the first time you see a page!

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 :)

Halloween

I have started on some halloween art having started a handmade postcard swap on livejournal in a mail group I am in. Also I like to send candy to my family in the states and saw this great small box idea in one of card making magazines. So I have been busy this weekend making a couple of these boxes. I drew up my plan on a big of paper and then cut it out to check I had all the flaps and such I needed. The example in the magazine was about using die cut to make the box so had to plan it out myself (which I enjoy doing anyway).

It was supposed to have an acetate window in the box so that you can see the candy inside but that would have been more complicated and I worried it would take some of the rigidity out of the box as it is quite thin card.

Then this is my postcard. I bought a cat punch for 29p and I thought it would look good like a cat against the moon. So originally was going to do black cat against white but changed it as thought it would look better. However I might change it up as plan to make a few to send out even though we are only going to have one partner. Its nice to send people mail.

I am just hoping I find the time to make all the halloween boxes, 5 for the kids in America and 2 for my niece and nephew here in the UK. Better get working on it

Hmmmmmmm

All I seem to talk on here about is the lack of Art I have done but then I don't want to write nothing and have you all disappear as its nice to chat and hear your comments. Since my House ATC's, I haven't done alot. I have been slowly cutting out circles to make buttons for an Unusual Alphabet ATC but I manager to draw and cut out 7 last night because I was trying to tidy up my house. Because I am living alone in it at the moment, I have totally been letting things build up, not putting them right away and such so it was a real mess. But I got lots done and the guinea pigs cleaned out so its looking better. Quick rush round with the hoover tonight will make it look even better. I have just been getting tired out and work and the travel so been wanting to do very little in the evenings. And laziness breeds more laziness and so it has continued. However I am trying to get myself out of this so hopefully more will come.

I did start doing a little bit of stitching over the weekend, we were visiting Sam's parents so I started on a hello Kitty bookmark I bought which I plan t send to a friend. See stitching has disappeared as well. I thought I would be good and not start anything new until I finished my Noah's Ark piece but it has made things worse as I have just been stitching nothing. I guess taking a break from the big pieces to do little pieces helped motivate me to keep going.

So I hope everyone else is well, the weather here in the UK was nice at the weekend but taken a big dip today. Much rain!

House ATC's

Horray from some crafting actually being done. It was nice to do this and I think they are fun. Plus I am organising this swap so have been seeing all the fantastic cards which have been coming in. Gives me first picks on which cards I would like from the swap. It's nice to do something a bit different, not just the normal shape.

But I am not letting my crafting afternoon/evening finish there, I have lost on the tv, a bit of food on the stove and I am going to continue making things. Working on a couple of cards at the moment, making use of a cat stamp I bought a couple of weeks ago. I am sure I will add photo's later in the week.

Its going to be a busy week as I start my new role within Royal Mail tomorrow being Assistant Business Partner for South West Wales, Kate officially left on Friday for her maternity leave with nice presents. So its just me from now on whilst still keeping my old role going for a few more weeks. This is likely to leave me little time for fun on my computer whilst at work. But there are always the evenings.

Also we got another guinea pig following the death of Takumi about 3 weeks ago. We picked ourselves up a little ginger one as the picture shows and we have named him Dave. Yes I realise this is rather a human name for him (going with our other pig, Patch) but I suggested it as a sort of joke last night and its just seemed right.

So enjoy the art and the cute picture of a guinea pig :)

Christmas Cards

I said about Christmas cards beginning of August and the most I have done is seen some cards I like the look of (from a booklet out of a card magazine) which I am thinking of making. Trying to go for not too difficult to make ones and one's I can make use of some things I already have, so can adapt the slightly.
Actually that's lie, I did buy a stack of Christmas papers 4" by 6" when I went with sam's mum a couple of weeks ago to this cool little stamping shop in London. It had loads of stamps and I did succumb to one even though I don't stamp often. It has 9 little frames which have different aspects of a cat in them. very cute and one I though I could use many times on different cards and postcards.
There was good variety and I was sure I could make use of some of them in my christmas cards.
I have done a little bit of work in Lia's journal but won't put it on here because I like to keep it secret until she gets it!

Lack of updates

Apologies for no updates recently. Just been distracted by work and having a week off, plus one wedding and another this weekend. Life has gone into overdrive and the art has fallen away.

I don't like the fact the art has fallen away but I am lacking something to draw me back in. I have done a little bit of work in a couple of journals but nothing major. I am unsure what to do at the moment - there are just so many things in my life to get sorted out.

This ATC is one I created over a month ago but had lost track of which I am sending out to a friend as a RAK. It was fun to make as I like drawing in Silver on black. Its a nice effect. I have more images from this collection which are fun and which I had planned to make cards for but as you can see they have not been done yet.

Anyway I just wanted to update you all on the lack of art at the moment. I am off to a wedding this weekend so looking like their won't be any art created this weekend.

A single page

Thats right, I have done a single page of art this week which I did on Sunday on the train back from London. However I have been preparing for a job interview this week so that has been taking up alot of my time plus we joined the gym which was nice. Anyway I had the interview about an hour ago and it went quite well so fingers crossed. It for a 12 month maternity cover in the Royal Mail who I already work for but its a development move and I'd be working in Cardiff.

Anyway so thats my reason for a lack of art and now I am back to London today for another Hen Do (My cousins this time - I had 3 possible things to attend tonight). So with the interview out of the way, more time for art and I do want to get back into it. So bring it on. I have agreed to host a house shaped ATC swap on a UK group I am in but the due date isn't until mid spetember so gve me time to finish off the couple of things I still need to do. Meaning I will be all clear on commitments (apart from the house ATC's).

So here is my single page. I had some fun colouring the background and then added the couple of business cards I had picked up from our Hen do trip - the Haymarket hotel where we had cream tea and the karoke bar.

still no art

Nope, not been arting it up at all this week and now I am at my dads down near London for a Hen Do tonight. Should be good, champagne tea at a nice hotel, karoke and then clubbing. So I did bring my journal with me but doubt much will happen in it this weekend although might do some stuff in it on the train back to Bristol tomorrow. But thought I would just say hi to everyone. And no I have done nothing to with my Christmas cards yet either. But I still have it in my mind so not been totally forgotten yet :)

Christmas will soon be here

I know that is a silly thing to be saying in August but come on, how quickly has this year flown by so far. Christmas will be upon us before we know it and so it makes me think I should be thinking about what I am going to do for my christmas cards this year. I normally don't start in time, wait until like November and then become busy with work and completely run out of time. I also often take on a few projects groups are doing and before I know it am swamped and really feeling the pressure. So I plan to dig out some magazines and see what inspires me for Christmas cards and start thinking about what materials I would need.

Heres an example of one I made last year. I had real fun making these snowmen and I would be tempted to make the again this year except I cannot remember who I sent which cards to and do not like to send the same one to people. But might make use of this for Christmas tags (which I don't normally make but if I am being good and starting early - there is a possibility).

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 :)

Where does a week go?

We've lost another week already. I had a fab time in Paris, just relaxing and wandering the city, having a few drinks, eating in cafes, a bit of shopping as well as a trip to the eiffel tower (but not up it) and a cemetery full of dead artists. Lots of fun was had by all, I did take a journal with a plan to do some pages but never found the time.
I have done another one of the Round III Journals which I will add pictures beginning of next week.

What to do with all the Art?

I do so much art and take part in all these swaps but I guess the ultimate question is what to do with it all. There is so much lovely stuff and I would like to display some of it but there is only so much space in the house and if I am to display it - How?
I have had in my mind for a while about making my own coffee table book with ATC's in it which would mean making the whole book myself and different pockets to display the ATC's - hopefully making pages in a theme to relate the the ATC's being displayed (I don't have a coffee table) but one of those kind of books people see and have a urge to flick through.
Apart from that I am unsure what to do with it all as well as the many postcards I have collected from penpals and such. I don't want to throw them away because that would be a waste but I don't think storing them forever is the way forward either! Hmmmmm

I did a journal page for the journals we are doing as an ATC group so that one is on its way to Belgium. I did take a picture but don't have my camera at work so will add the picture at a later date. The theme of the book was about the journey of life so I did a page with plants on it showing how we grow.

I am off to Paris tomorrow for a long weekend for a hen do and plan to take a small journal with me (yes I bought a moleskin) so it will be coming with me to capture any great moments or thoughts. My plan is glue, scissors and a couple of pens to keep me going. Don't want to be carrying too much stuff round!

Been quite a while since an update

and for that I apologise. I had intentions to add those pictures the next day and even started a post but never finished it or added the pictures, last week was a very busy week with work and I was travelling all week hence no update but I have done loads of artwork which I want to share with you guys.

Firstly to the buttons which you were all expecting. So as you can see I had lots of fun making paper buttons and put them to good use making many things. First I made a background for an ATC not exactly sure what I was going to use it for but then inspiration hit me and an unusual alphabet ATC appeared which was nice as it had been a little while since I had made an ATC having founf they were turning out right so it was nice to make it without the pressure. I have quite a few unusual alphabet ATC's to make to send back to people but I am trying not to push myself on them otherwise I feel they are not turning out as well as they can.

I then made the postcard not totally sure what I was going to use it for and originally thinking I would send it to a penfriend but instead I used it for an original art swap on swap-bot - my very first on there which meant I only had to make one other for the swap (partly breaking my not signing up for anything rule but only a tiny bit) and I made a zen postcard for that which I will show later.

Lastly I felt I should share my button fun and so I made this journal page in my journal which is heading to Lia to work in as part of our round robin. They all just look so cute on the page.

Following on from this I have been doing alot of work in journals, finishing up Linda's journal and sending it on to the next person in the group as well as doing some work in my journal for my round robin with Lia and sending that off as well.

This page was painted quite early on in the journal being with me, it was fun to do as I don't paint with acrylic often and I haven't quite sussed out how to stop it bleading onto other pages and such. Luckily it only slightly caught a couple which were my pages so it didn't affect anyone elses work. It looks so nice that for a while I didn't know what to add to it and so I ended up just adding some words to it so that you could still see the strokes the brush had made and still feel the texture of the paint.

This is a page about how our trip to Afan had to be called off leading to us driving back ome from Wales and needing a plan B as we had days off work and we didn't want to waste them. Then the page next to it is about our plan B and how we went to cardiffd for a couple of days having many boozy drinks and wandering the city. I added some bits about the places we went from leaflets and such.

This page was inspired on one of my travels with work. I was thinking about how much I love to touch stuff and so I drew the bit in the middle whilst on the train and then added the rest when I got home making use of many different textures. This page is more about how it feels that how it looks. I touch so many things in shops and with the journals I have look at the and feel all the pages as I feel like its another aspect to them

This was the final page in Linda's journal, a farewell page to see the journal off. The stamp of the butterfly didn't turn out as well as expected and I drew over some of it with a silver pen however you cannot see that in this picture :)

Buttons

This weekend it has all been about buttons but not actual buttons but paper buttons. I made an envelope a couple of years ago and I felt like making more paper buttons again. However this time I made an ATC background, a journal page and a postcard. Thats right I made an ATC this weekend - one about buttons for my unusual alphabet. I liked the way it turned out but then I didn't originally plan to make an ATC so maybe that was the key.
Due to having to come back from Afan due to bad weather (lots of rain does not mix with Mountain Biking) we ended up going to Cardiff for a couple of days which was cool. So when I got back I journalled a couple of pages about it.
Well I did a page about needing a plan B due to having to abandon Afan. I had already done a couple of backgrounds using ink pads so I could take the journal with me to Afan but obviously it didn't get used. I did take it to Cardiff but didn't write in it. However I did pick leaflets and such up from places we went so I could make use of them. Which I did when creating my page about our trip to Cardiff.

Pictures to be added tomorrow!

Ticking off the list

Thats right I managed to tick some thing off the list which I had to complete. A couple of things sent out which I needed to send out but still things needing to be done. Hopefully I will get there in the end.
Still working in the journals and loving it. I did a couple of background for journal pages yesterday so I could take my journal on our trip. I painted a background with blue paint which slight dyed the strong holding it together but only for a couple of pages - need to figure how to stop it doing that. I also used ink pad to lightly colour a couple of pages - one side yellow, one side red.
I have done some actual pages in the journal though - I added another sketch to the bottom of the other page although it didn't turn out how I wanted but I left it in anyway - after all its development.

I did a sex and the city page from last week where I went to see Sex & The City movie whilst I was in Leeds for Work. It is the first time I have ever been to the cinema alone so its about that experience and how it made me feel.

Another page I did was some purple striped paper as a background and originally I was going to write on it but then I thought, no this will look nice as just a picture page. So I got out my silver ink pad and some hand stamps and left lots of handprints all over the page. I like the effect it created so decided not to add any words as I don't think it needs it.

Thats was fun I liked it. I have alos been working in my journal for mine and Lia's swap but I will post them once we next swap back as I like her to see them in person first.

Linda's Journal

Linda's Journal Page 3
Originally uploaded by seussscat

Did some more Art last night. Firstly I made use of a doodle I made in a 2 day meeting last week. Even as I created it I knew I would probably turn it into a journal page. I wanted to be specific with my doodling - I had a feeling of what it had to look like and wanted it to look right. I did it ring by ring as such working out from the original HI. The joy of a 4 colour biro was especially handy. No green in this though, I didn't think it would look right. I also did a sketch before bed whilst Sam and Matt were playing XBox 360 (I surprised Sam by buying him an XBox 360 - he was not expecting it, A big Present for him) of one of Guinea Pigs - Takumi eating. It was quite tricky as he kept eating for a little bit, then going to get some water and then coming back plus he went to bed before I had finished however I had the general gist of the picture so I just finished it off. It was nice to sketch as its been a little while since I last sketched and even longer since I did it based on a subject I was looking at rather than just from my imagination. It turned out quite well - Sam thought it was a good sketch which was nice.

Journals but no ATC's

I have been continuing in peoples journals as normal. I sent on Karen's Journal mid last week and so now I have started working in Linda's Journal. I have done 2 pages so far. One was around donating blood and I put my old blood donor card in the page. I finally got up to 5 donations in total and so I got a new blue card. I was really quite proud and this is what started the page off.
I also did a page based on reading someone elses entry in the journal. This was about how you really feel like you know someone by reading through their work in the journals and getting to see and touch them. Its such a great experience when you first get the journals and start reading them. I normally flick through at first to see the different pages and then come back to them and have a proper read, touching the pages and such. With this page, again playing with tissue paper, was doing this whilst watching fight club at like midnight on saturday. I seem to work quite well in the evenings (it was the weekend so wasn't mentally worn out from work or anything).

On the ATC front however, nothing is coming from me. I need to make some, I have unusual alphabet cards that need to be made and sent out but I have no want to make ATC's. I'm not sure what it is, I don't know if its the working on such a small scale, the fact my idea's haven't been turning out as I wanted them to or the lack of idea's (although for the unusual alphabet, I already have quite a few idea's written down). I'm just not sure what it is but I don't have the same feeling for them at the moment. I want to get my swaps completed and then maybe I will take a mini break from them or something - maybe by doing something else, my energy for them will come back. Who knows.

Will catch up

Thats right I have promised myself I will catch up on all arty stuff I need to do e.g. ATC's, journals etc before comitting myself to any new swaps or projects, no matter how much I want to join in. I am a bit behind with some bits and I want to get them completed and sent out to people as I hate being behind. People are very understanding but it does not make it any better!

I am coming to the end of my time with Karen's Journal. I took with me when I was travelling around this week and although didn't get to work in it much I did get to do this page about travelling on the train so much. Limited materials to work with hence the simplistic nature of the page but I got what I wanted to say down. Then last night after getting back from NASS I had some fun with tissue paper making this page. I wrote about our time at NASS this weekend and what a great weekend it was. Apart from that its been quiet on the arty front what with lots of travelling with work last week and a 3 day weekend at NASS. But I will be sure to keep you up to date on how I am doing with catching up on my art!