Art Journey on UKScrappers

I have always loved the look of art journals, but never thought I could do one.

Well, there is a course going on over at the lovely UKScrappers site so I thought I would join in and just have a go. Normally when I do layouts it all ends up being matchy matchy and I just thought it would be good to loosen me up a bit (well, a lot actually). As Leanie says - there are no rules, there are no police!

So here's my first ever attempt at an art journal. The theme was consumerism based on packaging from stuff you had bought. There are two main things that I buy that I don't need - chocolate and crafty stuff - so I thought I would incorporate bits of both of those on my page. The foil heart shape (well sort of) is made from a chocolate wrapper and the background is covered with bits of old scrapbook paper that I will probably never use as I have fallen out of love with it now. I also stamped with some bubble wrap from yet another online crafty purchase.

I hand drew (very badly) the woman with shopping bags and he journaling and liberally applied paint everywhere. It was great fun to do and means something to me, which is the point I think.

Thanks for looking.

Rebecca

Little Book of Secrets Swap - Part 2

Having received my gorgeous book of secrets from Jill (thank you again) I decided I had better get on and finish the two that I'm doing!

Here's the first one I made for Helen (aka Tigs) on the theme of snowmen. I was a bit stumped on what to write about - I mean, they're fun and all but what can you say about them?

So first I did the shopping to fill the matchboxes (by far the easiest and least frustrating part of the whole process). There were 5 medium sized boxes to fill and it's surprising just how much stuff you can get in there. I put in white chocolate snowmen, snow glitter and snowmen brads, a Lego mini snowman (some assembly required there), a miniature Frosty the Snowman book, Russian nesting snowmen, a dichroic glass snowman necklace and a snowman charm bracelet. I also sent her a mini magnifier separately to help her read the tiny Frosty book if she wants to.

Now it sat there with the structure done and the boxes filled but I still wasn't sure what to write. I had to put a couple of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons in there - they make the best snowmen! I also made a flatpack snowman (complete with hand drawn flatpack style contents and assembly instructions) which was fun to do.

Anyway, here's the book. The photos aren't in the right order but you get the idea. I'm glad you like it Helen.

Personal

I know that a lot of the followers I have are either friends or people who have come here from things I've posted about my late daughter Isi. I have started a personal blog here for anyone who wants to know about my beautiful, flawed and amazing youngest daughter. It is not a happy blog but it is how I feel.

Little Book of Secrets Swap on UKS

I've started doing a few swaps over on UKScrappers and they're great fun. I dipped my toes gently into the waters with card and banner swaps but now I'm trying to finish off a little book of secrets. What's a little book of secrets? Well, it's a mini book with added matchbox drawers to put little goodies in, I decided to male two (and that way I get two back - yey!). My two themes were The Number Seven and Mexican Day of the Dead. Now, even before I had really got going on decorating my books for my swap partners I received this beautiful one from Jill, aka lemonblossom, on the number 7.

A huge thank you Jill - I love it and so do my kids, which is no mean feat as they are harsh critics! It arrived beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and came wwith extra goodies that didn't fit in the drawers.

Here are some pictures.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - it is so much more lovely in real life so I will try to take some better ones soon. In the meantime, Jill's blog is here.

New Year, New Post

Hello again, and a happy and healthy new year to you all.

I haven't posted much because Christmas was hard for me as it was the first since my lovely daughter Isi died. However, it's done now and I'm trying to look forward to the new year.

This is my latest LO and it's (shock! horror!) a digi one. Most unlike me I know, but as DH kindly bought me Photoshop Elements for Christmas it would be rude not to try it out.

Anyway, papers and stuff all came from Tangie Baxter and can be found here.

I'm so in love with the Mexican Day of the Dead festival artwork at the moment and it seems so fitting for scrapping pictures of Isi. The text - smile ... when you think of me - comes from a song that we played at her funeral. I was looking through my photos and came across this little group and it did make me smile (and also cry). I've submitted it for the UKScrappers monthly challenge as it's based on their sketch.

Sorry it's a bit of a sad post, but these photos really did make me smile and that's a good thing.

Take care everyone, and thanks for looking.