You cannot conquer, what you cannot confront..!!

Hi all you lovely lovely peeps..!!! Who needs to watch X-factor..?? Just get yourself a Twitter or Facebook account and watch the sparks fly, lol. Now you all know I hardly watch any TV at all, I just read about everything thats on. Last week on Twitter/Facebook, everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY was up in arms and all for boycotting this weeks show. So what happened..?? You are all sooooo addicted, cos you all watched it , didnt you..??? lmao
I in the mean time have been having a bit of a Danny Dyer week. I know, me and my bad boys, lol. So far I have watched Borstal Boy, The Business, The Football Factory and my fave of them all City Rats. Its a really dark film about the not so nice side of London and wont be everyones cup of tea, but I found it really thought provoking and I enjoyed it. So much so that I am going to watch nit again when I have finished blogging. Mind you , dont forget I am rather "odd" top put it politely..lmao




Now those of you who think I have been taking it easy and lolling about watching films, think again. I have also been working extremely hard( cough, cough) on my journaling. Not for pleasure, I hope you realise.>!!!! but it is in fact "research" and revision for the classes, lol. I seem to have got a sudden creative spurt and so I am maximising it to the full. But I just need to show you what happens when you push it just that little bit too far, as I did last night, lol.
I was determined to finish this page even though my eyes were drooping fast and I woke up this morning with it still on my lap. When I looked at it properly it was the biggest pile of crup I have ever seen. It was horrible, badly done, none of the writing made sense and I just hated it. I was temped to completely wipe it out and start again. But as many of you know I just love images of Our Lady, and you don't often see many of them around, so I couldn't bear to lose this one.

so my mission today, which I chose to accept, was to transform this monstrosity into something wonderful. Okay, okay, maybe that was a bit far fetched, but at least I improved it. I added a Tim Holtz mask and ink. A verse from a song that always tickles me and tons and tons of doodling. Now I like it...

Just goes to show, you shouldn't give up on something, till you've had another go. If you hate it already, you cant hate it any more, can you. But you never know, you just might get to love it. I was a bit embarrassed about showing you the before piccy, but there you go, its done now....

I also decided to decorate the covers of this particular journal. I never really touch the covers till I,m at least half way through. Not sure why, maybe I just want to see the feel of it first. Most of my journal pages are very bright, which is my trick of throwing people off the scent to the content, but I really enjoyed doing the black and white page the other day. So that was my theme. See what you think. Here is the front cover.

And here is the back. I,ve gone a bit mad with the pen work, but that is my new fixation at the moment. I am on a mission to find the best pens for us all to use. I,ll then try to track them down and add them to the Art Journaling SECTION of the site. See I,m thinking of you all, all the time, ha ha..

Here's the back of the journal.

I am loving working in this Moleskine, it is a fabby size for me and is my favourite so far. I don't seem to go anywhere without it, or my A5 Moleskine, 3 pencil cases ( 1 for watercolour pencils and brushes, 1 for pens such as Sharpies, Pitts etc, and 1 for all my gel and doodling pens), a glue stick, pencil and a pair of scissors. Well you never know when inspiration may strike. I am now a familiar sight in both local Starbucks, the tattooists, hairdressers and the pub at the end of the road..!!!

You can all come and indulge with me tomorrow at the Art Journaling workshop. Tomorrow is going to be "Challenge Day". Ha ha that will put the wind up everyone wont it..??

I have been working really hard on a new project this week, and I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited I could pee my pants..!!!! Those who have seen it so far, love it, so fingers crossed you all will too. Will spill the beans as soon as the finishing touches are applied. And don't even think about trying to bribe Bezzie Su with blue lollies, cos I'll know it was her you know..!!!

Both Journal weekends were snapped up pretty quickly and there is only one space left on the March one. A lot of you have been piling on the pressure, so , YES, I will do an intermediate Journaling weekend as well. Okay, happy now..??? Will you stop bullying me now..??? Lol. I haven't got dates at mo, I need to sit down with Our Ben and find a free weekend, which is much easier said than done..!!I,ll keep you informed, don't worry.

I hope you all read my previous POST about the very courageous Michelle, a survivor of extreme Domestic Violence. If not , hot foot it over, it is extremely important that people realise this is widespread and it needs to become totally unacceptable for a man to beat a woman, and for a woman to feel she has no other options but to accept it. It is a very taboo subject, but as Michelle says. "Domestic violence is a dirty secret, and once the secret is revealed, the healing can begin"

That sentence struck so many chords with me, as many of you know I am having a struggle in my personal life this year, with many things coming to the surface and spilling over. It is very hard at times and it is my Art Journaling that keeps me sane ( well as sane as I ever could be, lol) and I have every admiration for any one who can stand up and talk about such a personal issue. But you cannot conquer what you cannot confront..!!

Please, please, please, take the time to make Michelle an Atc, with the subject, Be a Voice. Don't
worry about having to post it to America, just send them to me and I,ll send them all over at the same time.

Thank you, you lovely, lovely babes. Right I,ve got a hot date with the man himself, Danny Dyer...!!!

Enjoy xx

I am a hero (Be A Voice Arts) EDITED with photos

Just a quickie tonight, I came across this website earlier which really connected with me. It is the story of a new mum, left for dead by the husband she loved. As well as trying to murder her, he slashed 94 of her paintings, her ways of expressing herself. He tried to silence "her voice"..!!

This is a bit of what she says. The full version is HERE

I am a hero (Be A Voice Arts): "Yet ultimately, I have the choice to remain a victim, and I have made the conscious decision not to curl up and live in fear. I have decided to spread my wings and live.
I want to use my gifts to speak out against domestic violence. I want to use my writing, painting, and speaking gifts to be a voice for women who are either afraid to speak out, get out, or those who are simply trapped by the helplessness and hopelessness of their circumstances. Like I plan to teach my five month old daughter, I want teenage girls and adult women to realize that domestic violence is not love. There is a different definition of love that many women are never taught or never exposed to, and they settle for something far less than perfect. I am working on an art project with my city to promote awareness of domestic violence. I am working on workshop ideas for shelter victims to use art as therapy to heal emotional wounds. I am ready to use my voice"

Her husband received 28 days in jail..Wtf..??

She is regaining her voice with an art show, combining new pieces with the original slashed paintings. She is putting a call out for ATC's with the theme..Be a Voice...As she receives them she is pinning them onto her wedding dress to create an interactive gallery piece. You can find more details and a submission form HERE. I think that what she is doing is extremely brave, and I feel that I want to be part of "her voice", as a mother, an artist and a woman..

*EDIT*I am going to send in some Atc's, but I was moved to do a tribute page in my Art Journal. I chose to go with Black and White using a lot of the Blonde Moments Suet Pudding range, and I can see this is going to be a favourite style for a long time to come.

Enjoy xx

Feeling the Lady Love...!! *EDIT*

Ooooh what a shock, Blogger is playing up again. Now it wont let me move my pics around..!! So when you get to the sideways one, please just tilt your head 90 degrees and you,ll be fine. That is one of the reasons I didn't post last night. First of all, I now have to copyright most of the pics and it takes frikkin ages, I only know how to do it in Flickr, if you know an easier way then please let me in on the secret. Then I transferred them to here. I normally do them backwards in the order that I want them, but last night I was so tired I just put them where they landed and then Blogger wouldn't let me move them. So I talked nicely to it, I then argued with it a bit, and then I took my bloody ball home and sulked.....Not that it got me anywhere, cos I just had to start all over again today..Oh how I laughed..!!!!!

We have a new kit in the shop as from today. It is Bezzie Su,s present of presents, and you can purchase it HERE. It comes with full step by step instructions and colour pictures. Hopefully there will be a few more joining it i n the next week or so, but don't hold your breath,lmao...

In our Tuesday night class we are making a special tag a week . Here's the tag that we made in last nights class. It was collaged and beeswaxed. I just love it when we have Beeswax classes as the room always smells sooooooo gorgeous. Anyone can come and join us, but booking is necessary as we are nearly full.

*EDIT* Aaaargh , how could I forget to say, the gorgeous images on this tag come from the lovely, lovely www.lisasalteredart.com and the stamps are the gorgeous Tim Holtz. Sorry about that chappies...

And here's yesterdays wardrobe remix. Oh bugger that means I'm a day behind now,I think.??
Reverted back to my favourite black. Love this dress which was a pressie from the gorgeous Jude ( Mwah, Mwah ). The Goddess takes the photos and tries to get me to be a bit professional in my stance, as in the pose below.

But more often than not this is what she has to contend with..!!! lol

Well it was never boring growing up with a Mum like me, that's for sure...

Need to show you my latest addiction. Ha ha yes its porridge.. Soldiers porridge, made with water and salt and a sprinkling of soya milk on the top. Gorgeous, just how me Dad made it. Mind you, these days I prefer it with some movement in it. When me Dad made it the spoon stood straight up in the bowl, lol. Then we used to let some of it cool, and later in the day slice it up like cake...!!

So, more journal pages. Just need to clear something up. I had an email the other day from someone who saw that I have just copyrighted everything. She was really concerned and upset because she had saved 2 of my pictures and put them in her " inspiration" file..She was really apologetic and said she would delete them straight away. NOOOOOOOOO that isn't the reasoning behind my actions. I love it when people get inspiration from what I do, that is what I am here for, and if my art inspires you then by all means use it, and save it somewhere where you can easily access it. What I don't want is those who try to pass it off as theirs, or parts of it. That is not on, a big fat no-no. My art is here for YOU , to look at, to learn from, to ignore, to love, to hate, to criticise, to do WHATEVER, except pass it off as your own.... Enjoy it..

This is one of my faves, the houses are Blonde Moments papers and book pages. They look soooo neat..

This is another "Teesha" inspired one. I have just found out she is doing a journal tutorial on her blog. You need to go see, it is fabby, she shows you collage, borders, doodling and lettering. And its all free...!!!! As you know she has always been my idol, I just love her stuff and find it amazing and soooo inspiring that someone of her calibre is giving away her knowledge. I love her even more for that, and can feel a lot more lady love coming on, do you think she would like to have my babies, lmao. they could be little Art Journaling ones, with pointy hats, wings and stripy legs, lol. You can find all the videos http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/HERE. Scroll down till you get to the first one and work backwards, ok.

This page has had a lot more doodling added since I photographed it, so I will update you all tomorrow.

I wasn't happy with the eyes so I have added large specs...

Ok off to indulge my fantasies now, with a Danny Dyer film, swoon , swoon.

Enjoy xx

Every cloud has a ........

You know when you have one of those days when you have tons to do and not a lot of time to do it in...??? And then you find your concentration and motivation suddenly decide to go on strike.!!! Well, the old me would have tried to plough through it, making mistakes, getting frustrated and having to redo it all another day. The new me has finally learnt after 46 yrs that if I,m that way out then there is no point pushing it. So today was re designated to Art Journaling. Which of course I can actually class as work as I am researching and practising techniques purely for your benefit..!!! Did that sound convincing..?? lmao. So apart from pigging out on porridge, and ogling Ami from Miami Ink, that's been my day. I think I am going to become a hermit, liin a cave with my art supplies and Journal all day. I,ll get Bezzie Su to bring me cups of tea and Wispa bars and I,ll be sorted. But don't panic, I,m not going yet..One, I need to wait for the warmer weather, cos its a bit brass monkeys at the moment and Two, I need to wait till they get electric in caves, cos I cant live without my laptop, lol...

This page is in the Teesha Moore stylee, with a border all round. Cant make my mind up. I like it but think it needs more work..

This one I love. I seem to enjoy it more when I sneak some of my painting in there.!!

And I finally finished this double spread, and I am really happy with it.

I'll save the rest for another day.

Enjoy xx

Well I,ve just spent another couple of hours redoing the links to the blog rolls and it has all relinked wrong AGAIN...!!!!Wtf..?? have given up, will wait for The Goddess to come to my rescue tomorrow, lol.

Had a fabaroony class today. It was very small due to lots of poorly sick people which meant they each got more than the usual individual attention. And boy did it show. Only Keren had painted before, the rest were complete novices and they took to it like ducks to water.. Here's the finished pieces. Just fab aren't they.

From L-R. Jeanne, Anita, Cath, Keren and Carole.

I,ve just finished this weeks entry for Collage Play with Crowabout. I,m really chuffed with it and I am enjoying doing Art for Arts sake. A little too much maybe..!!! It is a 10 x 8 in acrylic and oil pastel journal page. All the images are from Crowabout, the background stamp is Paper Artsy and the embellishments are Idea-ology. Just love the mini film strip, its going on everything I can find..lol..

Big Mwah's to Sexy Susie who is suffering at the mo. Love ya babe XXX

Enjoy xx

How cold, this calls for furry knickers and long socks..

Well, it was certainly brass monkey weather today, wasn't it.?? Wardrobe remix is lets see how many layers we can fit on without looking too much like the Pilsbury dough guy What do you reckon..??











Spot the similarities..??, lol.



Exciting day today, The Goddess had a new tattoo done. It is in memory of my Mum and it reads.



" The song may have ended, but the memory stays on"



How lovely is that..?? I just love it on her and it made me all nattery for mine to be started
. I hate waiting, If I want something, I want it NOW...,lol

She also had her hair cut, and for the first time had a fringe cut in. I think it really suits her. Even though she is pulling a face..!!

I gave her my stern Mummy look and told her to look all grown up and sophisticated.... Think it went over her head, don't you..?

I seemed to spend most of the day with her waiting around. Luckily I had some Art Journaling supplies on me ( I know, what a shock..!!lmao)So the first 2 layouts I did in the tattooists. Neither of them are finished yet.

And this last one I did in the hairdressers.

Enjoy xx

AAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH

I,m sorry but the frikkin links on the blog rolls are not behaving tonight. I have just spent 3 hours relinking them all and now they,ve all jumped again. Am not redoing them tonight cos I,m now in an ar*e, lol. Any suggestions..???