A load of of old blogocks....

By heck, its hard work this relationship lark, fitting it in around my work, my journaling, my twittering, my boxing and my blogging...lmao....I love it but its just taking some getting used to..!!! For example, when I got in late from work last night and I had eaten the food he had cooked me and drunk the wine he had got me, and soaked in the bath he ran me, I was then expected to give him my attention and watch football with him..!!! I mean how unfair was that..???? Anyway I did it, I watched the football and didn' touch my laptop or journal once...Well it was the least I could do yeah...??? lmao..

I wanted to talk to you today about the pens I have been raving about as we have finally got them in stock and they are flying out the door, oops, lol. I have always dissed gel pens as useless, scratchy and not worth the money, and I have had to really and truly eat my words..!!! I am totally head over heels with these pens and cannot praise them enough. My only fault with them would be not enough colours. See I can always find something to moan about, lol.

I have tried pen after pen after pen, but most of them struggle to write on my painted backgrounds in my journals and artwork. Some pens start off ok then suddenly stop never to write again, others skip ( only write here and there) and others are scratchy as anything, or never dry , just smudge everywhere. There are lots of permanent pens on the market and its just a matter of finding the ones for you and these are deffo the ones for me...

So the pens I am raving about are from Sakura. My faves are Souffle, Glaze and Gelly roll. So I,ll go through them and tell you why I love them.

First the basic Gelly Rolls..and Stardust.

These pens are fantastic, they just keep on and on with a beautifully smooth line. They are a mix of ink and water based pigment. I am using the black and white on everything. The Stardust pens have a really high glitter effect. Now you all know I am opposed to glitter, lol, ooh I am itching at the thought, but these are really cool. Yes I know, first gel pens, then glitter effect, whatever next..PPPPP******fs?? NO don't even go there, lmao

Souffle pens.

These pens are opaque with a matt finish and write on just about everything. They are slightly dimensional. My absolute fave is the white which writes clear and then turns white on  dark , reminds me of being a kid and doing magic writing...

Glaze pens.

These pens are slightly transparent and they give a glossy effect. They are just out of this world, and write beautifully, everyone who has tried these has had to go buy them,lol. I love the way they write but if you write really slow you can get a really dimensional embossed effect. The clear is fab for going over any outine and making it look as though it is embossed. And of course I am hooked on the white and black. I have yet to find anything that they wont write on. Oh and forgot to mention that when I say white, I mean WHITE...

These are all available HERE , some in singles and some in sets, I think you definitely need these on your Christmas list, but be warne they are sooooooooooooo addictive. I have given up collecting high black, strappy bondage shoes and started on these pens instead, lol.

I also love drawing pens and have various makes in my collection, my favourite being the Faber Castell Pitt artist pens. These I use when I am doing my Blonde Moment stamp designs and nearly all my outlining in my journaling. You can get these HERE.

And none of my atcs, canvas's or journal pages are complete without oil pastels.  Many of you are frightened of these, I think it's the word oil..!!! But they are so simple to use and really make a big difference to your work, by making things pop. You don't need anything to blend them with, I just use my finger. I choose a colour, outline the image with it and in a circular motion blend it in. They are a fab investment as they seem to last forever. The set I have at work is used by everyone and looks hardly used at all.. At the moment I am loving the Cray-Pas Expressionist set of pastels. I, of course, have got the massive set, but we have 3 other sets in stock HERE.

So there you go thats what I use to create the magic, lol. I am a big believer in using what you have until you are sure that you enjoy it, but then you really need the right tools for the job. And you all know, much to Ben's disgust, I can't promote anything that I don't love.

Ok, want to show you these advent calendars that Chrissie made for her family. She got that hooked that she had to make them all one each. I bet they took some filling..!!!!

Heres another entry for my journal contest. Love it...

You have only got till tomorrow night to enter this, so c'mon you lot get your finger out. Stop being all mouth and no trousers, as me Dad used to say.  Tomorrow we will be releasing three more of my downloads, and I just know they are gonna fly. Everyone who has seen them so far lurves them so be warned. New downloads, new challenges....Yayy.

Gonna leave you with a journal page.

Enjoy xx