New Year

Hi Again. Well I just checked out a YouGov survey about what people thought the New Year would bring, and they are all as full of doom and gloom as I am. Seriously, not one positive prediction to be found. I haven't made a resolutiom for years, but I have made one in advance of midnight tonight. I am going to stop seperating my life from my art and am going to post a lot more about me and what I am up to. I'm venturing into jewellery making along with a thousand other things.It did not really dawn on me that others might find what I do to be particularly interesting, but having spent a lot of time on a lot of blogs lately, I really appreciate what people post. I've been really captured by stories of heartbreak, pictures of experiments that have gone wrong, and just the sharing and generosity of spirit of bloggers out there. This year I am going to share more of my failures, things I like and what I am up to. I just coloured some beads that were a flat turqoiuse colour, with alcohol inks. I now have delightful speckled beads which have a depth they did not have before. I will post photos of these and tips, in the hope that I will get some back too. There must be a better way of sealing beads than painting them with clear nail varnish! Anyways, enough of my ramblings. Here is a challenge I have just completed for 2012 I was not allowed to use real people, so had to use symbolism. Could feel my anger rising as I was working on this image. I'm so unhappy about the state of the UK and Europe. Not at all happy with this picture but am posting it anyway and am always open to feedback. ...and to all of you whose images I used and was too lazy to credit for, I shall make it up to you next year :-) xxx Happy New Year!

I'm back

It's nice to be back.I've had to deal with two parents who have dementia. Not easy to move people from their home to residential care, but needs must. So many 1000mile trips to deal with dilemmas, house clearance etc. At least they are in a nearby residential home now and I can begin to get my life back. I haven't taken part in many challenges, just snatching the odd hour or so to scrapbook my grandchildren. Apologies in advance for not giving full credits to the designers whose designs I use in my creations. I really must find a system to record everything I use. Would be easier if I stuck to just one kit instead of using bits and pieces from different kits and freebies. I used a freebie kit from PSJ designs - www.pstogether.blogspot.com Isn't my little grandson as cute as a button? I used one of my favourite kits from the Inner Voice kit by Finecrafted designs for this one of my grandson. He is into building huge towers with his building bricks. Here he is dressing up. He could not decide whether he wants to be a chef or a pirate. I've used Lorie Davison's kit for the background. Even pirates need a tea break :-) For this one, I used StarLightDesigns Crazy Backyard kit. I used a background paper from Downunder Studios - Touch of Fantasy Kit and blended it with an original photo, using an easel from another kit. Matrioshkidesigns.com Old Town Kit by Anna was used for this one. It was a very poor photograph and a real challenge. Messed around so much with various processes that I could not begin to describe how I arrived at the final copy.

Final challenge for the Digital Whispers 12 Days of Christmas

This is the last of the challenges for Christmas.  We were provided with an image of a castle.  I think the idea was to use the windows to display all the challenges we have created for the Digital Whispers challenges.  There was no way I could fit these into windows. They would have been tinier than postage stamps, so I had to come up with the idea of frames.  Hope all the snow does not damage the pictures ;-)
This was so much fun and incredibly time consuming.  Had I not felt so ill during the Christmas period, I doubt I'd have been able to complete it.
Incase anyone reading this also suffers from sinusitis, I can recommend the raw garlic cure.  The difference today is just amazing, and I only started chomping on raw garlic yesterday.  My other half says you could strip paint off doors with my breath lol but it is worth it to get some relief.

Elements used in this were icicles and owl  from Holliewood's Christmas Morning kit.  Frames were from Kubivet.  Not sure of source for vintage girl.  I created my own snow brush to paint the frame and snow on items.