Lack of time and deadlines!

Well I have been busier this month than I have been for years. The best thing is that for the most part I have managed to cope with it. Thanks go to my wonderful Chinese Doctor.

Despite dashing all over the country - or so it seemed - I had several things that had to be finsihed on time. One is a bag I am making, but I have a few more days on that one - watch this space, and another being pages for a chunky book.

What to do that looked good in the short space of time left to me. I didn't want the pages to look like I had rushed them - hate that - but needed to reflect my style.
So I got out a couple of old friends that hadn't seen the light of day for a while.
Twinkling H2O's - watercolour paints with mica powder in them - and Spirit Dancers from Angie B. I really enjoyed painting the pages with random swathes of colour and then adding the dancers. In the end, just before I sent them out I added some fibres to the top right hand corner but I forgot to photograph them again.

I felt really relaxed at the end of this project and energised too. You never know the back log of items with out deadlines may be dwindling soon!!

Chilling out!

Well July has been and is continuing to be a very busy month.
Lots of classes to be run and lots of training to attend.

In the midst of all this Roger had a couple of weeks off work. Mainly to allow me to go off and do my own thing and for him to dog sit!

We did manage to get a little time together and visit one of our favourite places to chill out.
Arlington Court is a National Trust property close by and is wonderful for walks for me as a lot of it is relatively flat compared to the rest of Devon.
We love to sit a look out over the pond and watch the Martins dipping the water to catch bugs. Heaven!



Oh! This is Sid - the dog who doesn't like to be without his Mummy!

Ahh bless.

Scrapbooking

Having got as far away from scrapbooking as a scrapbooker can get over the last few weeks, I thought it was about time to visit some old memories and play with them.

The hat became a family joke as nobody but me liked it. I wore it at any opportunity. The rest of the family would hide it and ridicule it.

It was on its way to Spain with me one year but somehow got left at Manchester Airport. I collected it when I got home but, boy I missed that hat in the Spanish sunshine.

The last insult was that the cat pinched it and used it as a bed one winter!

I finally decided to get rid of it last year after 10 years friendship. This year I am sorry I don't have my friend to cool me.

Headache!

Do you ever have an idea in your head for a piece of art but cannot get it to work right?
Bet you do.
Well I hope you do or that makes me very frustrated, well, even more frustrated than I was to begin with - Okay, I'm rambling!

The thing is I knew howI wanted this piece for Sheilagh's Quotes AB to look but could I get it to look like that?
Oh no!


The image I wanted to use had to be stamped on glossy card - there was the start of the problem. I thought I had some "not so glossy" glossy card. That would have worked first time I just know it. But I couldn't find it!
Actually all I could find was a small piece of white and a small piece of cream.

The white made the image look ghostly. Great but, I'd already painted the background and it looked so wrong.

Restart number 1
The first image on the cream card was quite pale.
"What's on that blob?" said Roger. This from a usually supportive spouse.

Restart number 2
Well third time lucky and here is the finished piece.
Yes, I think I'm happy with it. It just was so much better inside my mind!!!

Dancing

Well the dancing went a little better last night.
Having a bad neck didn't help my posture but we did manage not to stamp on each others feet this week.

It is said we are ready to take our first medals!
Well, I will need a medal if I get Roger to agree to do this. It would be great to have a go and we do have to the end of August to get the waltz right. Think our cha cha is ok - we like that one best.

Ok, ok pick me up off the floor - he has just agreed to do it!!!
Where do I collect the medal?
Yes, I know he has time to change his mind but I just won't let him.