BLACK, WHITE AND GREEN

The PLAY DATE CAFE this week features A SPLASH OF COLOUR ..........black and white with a splash of green.

As I was thinking about what to do I realised that one of the new GRAPHIC 45  HALLOWEEN WONDERLAND papers, Alices Tea Party, was predominantly green so I cut out four Alice images from it along with some of the chequered borders and my page started to come together.

Stamped swirls helped to fill in the space and some dots to highlight the figures.

Words added are from INVOKE ARTS and are available from THE STAMP ATTIC along with the Graphic 45 papers.

WHAT MORE COULD A PERSON WANT?

As someone who likes Alice in Wonderland and Hallowe'en can you imagine my excitement when I heard that GRAPHIC 45 had a new range of papers called HALLOWE'EN WONDERLAND  that combines Alice and Hallowe'en and that WENDY at THE STAMP ATTIC is stocking it?  Let me tell you I was EXCITED!! And even more so when WENDY sent me a set as part of my design team package!
My first pieces using these fab papers are these ATCs.

MEET CARROT.......AN ALTERED SPIRIT

Yesterday I went to a workshop taught by SARAH ANDERSON.......it was called "ADVANCED CARD TECHNIQUES"

I am not much of card maker these days so Sarah said why not apply the ideas to a journal page so that is what I did. I made one of my "cards" into a pocket for my journal by turning it side ways and sewing it in place. I also decorated the page itself with one of the ideas Sarah showed us.

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Isn't this little character so cute.....oops I mean whimsical, I don't do cute!! He is CARROT by STAMPOTIQUE and is available from THE STAMP ATTIC

Having said that I don't do cards I did actually make just one during the workshop..........isn't that cloud of butterflies lovely? It is a cupcake wrapper from Hobbycraft.

PIMS ANYONE?

I know by the title you might think I am alcohol obsessed especially after talking about drinking champagne at lunchtime at Tatton Park in my last post but in this case PIMS is actually...........

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PIGS........these spotty piglets were so cute unlike their parents who were pig ugly!

ICE CREAM......yummy.....death by chocolate, sloe gin and damson and strawberry cheesecake........

and MEERCATS!!  OK, let me explain! Our local ice cream farm.......SNUGBURYS......has a straw sculpture every year in a field alongside the road and it is always something clever but this year they have outdone themselves with this HUGE (it is 36 feet tall!) meercat! The caption on the poster as you drive up the road says "compare the flavours"!!
So that is just what we did today! We ate our ice creams while watching the pigs and piglets before walking over to admire the meercat.
You can tell why I have no artwork to show you, I am too busy being out and about!
Hopefully I will have some art to show you tomorrow as I am off to a workshop at the CUBBY HOLE here in Crewe taught by SARAH ANDERSON.

SUNCREAM AND UMBRELLAS

was the order of the day at the RHS flower show at Tatton Park yesterday! I was lucky enough to go on members day as my friend TRACY is a member. There were lots of fab things to see including....

 fabulous metal plants, I really like metal ornaments in the garden

beautiful plants of course and then........

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at lunchtime we had to take shelter under umbrellas as the heavens opened for a short sharp shower so to console ourselves we just HAD to have a glass of champagne very kindly bought by Tracys husband Ian, after lunch the sun re-appeared and it was then that hot we had to get the suncream out! Weird weather!

more beautifull plants! and then look what we found........

The Garden of the Crystal Skull!!

WELCOME TO MY WORLD!!

My husband often says to me "what is the colour of the sky in your world?" usually when I have made something that he obviously thinks is a bit weird. In this case I think it is pink and yellow with a bit of green thrown in! 
The colour on these pages was provided by some new paints I bought in the last few days while down at THE STAMP ATTIC, they are ECO FRIENDLY ACRYLICS.

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I also now have this fab BIRD CAGE PAPER DOLL stamp set from INVOKE ARTS.

and these weird but wonderful CALAVERAS stamps, also by INVOKE ARTS.......I do love skulls!!

 INVOKE ART stamps are available from THE STAMP ATTIC.

F WAS A FANCIFUL FROG

The colour challenge over at PLAY DATE CAFE this week is slightly different in that you can pick your colours from the photo provided. I chose lime green, yellow and orange and this journal page spread is the result.
The quote I used is by EDMUND DULAC who I know as an illustrator but apparently he wrote limericks too!

The frog is currently being used to advertise Sky TV I think, I cut him out of a mag!

I discovered something while I was making this page.........if you leave your favourite inks (Distress that is) in Almaty you are forced to use something else! I have STACKS of ink pads stored away so I took out one box and decided I would use something from inside it.........so I used several Versacolour cubes and some small chalk ink pads that I can't remember the last time I used them. I also used stamps I haven't used in ages too, I had forgotten how lovely this teasel stamp is.
  An exercise in not just reaching for your favourite every time!

MUSHROOMS

This journal page spread was made on Saturdays workshop at THE CUBBY HOLE with SARAH. We decorated a brown envelope that was then attached to the journal page to give a pocket to tuck "stuff" into.

My envelope has a tag tucked into it so far, it will have more at a later date I am sure as the page doesn't feel quite finished just yet.

This mushroom stamp is lovely, it is by Jo Capper Sandon for STAMPOTIQUE and can be bought here in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC.

A "PANTS" WORKSHOP

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Yesterday saw me at THE CUBBY HOLE attending a workshop taught by SARAH ANDERSON....it was Art Journaling 3 and we made pants books to slip inside envelopes attached to journal pages. It is a great novelty for me to ATTEND a workshop and I had a great (if very messy!) time so thanks to Sarah for a fun day!
This was one side of my piece of card.........................

and this was the other side..............lots of spray inks, paints and dribbles and stencils......

 adding the extra little booklets into some of the folds...........we decorated another piece of card for the covers of these..........

the finished folded book......having not being sure if I liked my decorated card I really liked the cover piece (and the rest of it) once it was cut and folded, funny how a few folds make such a difference!

couple more views of the finished piece.

HEART, SPIRIT, SOUL

This week on THE PLAY DATE CAFE the colours are red, pink and white. This journal spread is my entry, although my pink is not as pastel as the one shown on the challenge pic I might just get away with it!
The heart stamps are from CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS, just in case you need to know. The words and the architectural scraps are some rub-ons I found in a cupboard!