Dina Wakely Blog Hop….. win some of her…..

Fabulous line of paints, mediums and brushes.

As many of you know, Dina is one of my bestest, bestest, ever, ever friends. I love to spend as much time with her as possible, whether here or in the States. Not only is she a fabulous friend, she is a superb artist and one of the best tutors I know. Never pass up the opportunity to take a class from her, you will come away with your head exploding with inspiration and knowledge.
My first class with Dina was about 6 yrs ago and she just blew me away, and still continues to , to this day.
I feel very privileged, not only in being able to share in her artistry, but knowing she has my back. Although loads of you think we have the most fabulous job and are living the rock and roll life, it can be very lonely and exhausting. She is the only person in the world who knows what I am going through and vice versa. She is also the only one who understands  and accepts my Urban Decay eye pencil addiction. Love this girl to pieces, and when Ranger took her as a fellow Signature designer I was over the moon.

Sooo…enough of the love fest and back to the …

To celebrate the release of her paint line she invited me ( err might have bullied her a bit!) , to take part in her blog hop with these fabulous artists.

Roben-Marie Smith 

Mystele Kirkeeng 

Dawn Sokol 

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer 

Nathalie Kalbach 

Kirsten Varga 

Traci Bautista

What a line up, I hear you say…yes indeedy. Please hop over to their blogs to see what they have done and give them some luuuuuurve from me.

Dina's paints come in tubes and are the creamiest buttery paints you will have seen. Totally different to others, as you soon discover. And best of all, over half of them are in the fabulous bright colours that I adore.

Her mediums not only come in tubes but also in the larger jars as well

And although I am not a massive brush user, these are rather fabby.

This journal layout was done at Dinas, the first time I ever used her paints.

If you fancy winning a set of Dina's mediums and paints then hop over to her blog and leave a comment. Tell her I sent you, lol.

All of her products are available to buy HERE

including her book Art Journal Freedom

If you want to win a set of her mediums and brushes on top of all that then leave a comment on here telling my why?

eyes wishing you a fabulous Bank Holiday Monday/Memorial Day.

Enjoy xx

It was all buzzing ...

…at the Beehive, in Toledo, Oregon

This is the beautiful scenery we passed through in the way to the store.

My minder for the weekend was the lovely Maggie who is the Ranger rep for the area.

Heres one owner of the store, the lovely Lisa…

How frikkin fabulous are these…?

Made by the other owner of the store the lovely Michelle.

I retired to bed absolutely shattered and spent the morning catching up with work before heading to the store. After setting up the classes we headed down town for a quick scout around.

And popped into this fabulous place …

for some Chocolate stout and fish and chips…Where are we…?

We are in Rogue of course. I didn't quite make the grade as I refused to comply with all their rules lol. Apparently I am the first to have their application rejected!!! their loss if you ask me lmao.

And then it was time to go lay my head in a vintage cottage by the sea. Perfect.

Next morning we were up bright and early ready for a full day of teaching.

These lovely ladies Janna and Irene gave me bag full of gifts made in Oregon, How fabulous is that? I am so blessed

The next day started with selfless by the seafront.

Once again I was bestowed with gifts, just check out this flabby hair flower...

chunky frame decorated with old vintage wallpaper...

AND this fabulous  handmade necklace.

And amazingly enough these were all made by the same person, the incredibly talented Laura. Unfortunately her contact details are packed in my case so I will add them in the next post, you really need to check her and her stuff out. All the girls at the store were drooling!! Thank you lovely Laura.

The day just seemed to whizz by and soon it was time for signing, photos and the big clean up!

Just love this group photo. Want to know how we got this angle?

He he Michelle just balanced on the roof beams, as you do!!!

I couldn't go without defacing some of their property now, could I??

The weekend just flew by and as usual I had a blast. Lisa is the cheeky louder one of the two, who's just a great big softie underneath, and Michelle is the quiet one who is hiding a fabulous talent under a bushel. Loved spending time with them both, their store is a must to go see if you are in the area.

So it was a long drive back to a hotel by the airport, a few hours repacking all my bags, 3 hrs sleep and then back to the airport at 6am this morning ready for my first 5 hr flight to Philly, then its a 5hr layover before I board for my 8hr to Heathrow. I hope to be back at mine some time mid afternoon, where my head will hit the pillow and stay there for a day or two!

See you on the other side.

Enjoy xx