May's Art Journal Friday

It's Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree! Please visit The Scrappy Tree for this month's prompt, and come visit the Ning Community for chats and love and more journaling :)

I've had this photo in my camera from last month all stored up and ready to go for a little while now but what with one thing and another... well, you know how it is ;)

Here's my celebration of our early summer from April's prompt...

I loved that dancing girl so much! Been waiting for an opportunity to use her in something :)

And here's my page for the May's prompt... (you can read the prompt at The Scrappy Tree here)

I have no idea why these pics came out at such different sizes! Oh well :-D

This month's prompt really got me, it was one of those that started out as a thought which turned into some writing which was going to stay as writing until somehow the pastels decided to colour it in, which was going to stay as it was until some paint got in there. and all of a sudden I had a page with a title and it basically said in a sentence what ALL of the writing had been rambling on about. This was one that kinda happened on its own. I love the colours, but the title is the bit I like the best :)

Thanks for looking

Gayle xx

The bane of my life...!

I hope you don't mind, but my project to share with you today is... my wedding invitations! I've been working on these off and on for some time now, and although they may look quite simple I can guarantee you that it was suggested several times by my nearest and dearest that they should have been simpler! Seems like I've been working on these for ages!

I'll start with the invites themselves (I also made RSVP cards although at this point I already know most of my guests will be coming!).

I chose cream for the background card as it seemed more bridal (and less stark than the white) and embossed with a Tim Holtz/Sizzix swirls embossing folder. I cut out a background shape in red cardstock, and the words 'Happily Ever After' on plain cardstock, using the Storybook Cricut cartridge. I wanted the words 'Happily Ever After' to be written in gold but couldn't find card or paper that I was happy with the colour of, so ended up painting each one twice in gold acrylic paint (with the help of a very generous friend!). I cut out one big circle and two smaller ones from black cardstock using hole punches, and stuck these together into the shape of Mickey Mouse, with a trail of gold Stickles to make it look like a balloon. I tied the inner sheets into the card using red ribbon and tied a bow to make it look more decorative. If you like Disney, there are lots of Disney fonts available to download for free on the internet (I wrote mine in red and black ink!).

And here's the finished article!

The RSVP cards were much simpler! I had a circular RSVP stamp which was about the same size as one of Mickey's 'ears' so decided it would be just perfect to use this as the other 'ear'! I stamped the RSVP in black StazOn ink and then added a larger black cardstock circle and a smaller one to make it look like Mickey. I used small scalloped cards in the same cream colour as the main invitations.

And here are the two together! If you're tempted to try making your own my advice would be to play with a few designs until you find something simple that you really love! On reflection it would have been easier to theme the invites along the design of my RSVP cards, but I didn't start working on them until after I completed the invites, so maybe start there! Also, enlist the help of friends if you can - it was taking me forever to paint things in the shade of gold that I wanted and it was no end of help when a friend offered to help me out ;)

I'm hoping to get as many hand delivered as possible but will certainly be enlisting the groom's help as I'm doing some long shifts at the moment ;) hope you like them! Please excuse the photos, I haven't managed to be home much during daylight hours(!) but I hope you can see the idea :)

Happy Friday and happy scrapping ;)

Gayle xx

Reports from placement

So I'm now two weeks into my first nursing placement... and loving it! Unable to share too much detail because of confidentiality restrictions, but I'm working in a ward environment as a student nurse for the first time and it's brilliant :) I've worked in the community for social services for much of my career and was so looking forward to gaining some new experiences in an inpatient setting. Learnt so much already and can't wait to learn more!

Definitely finding that staying on your feet all day is easier than sitting and learning when you get up at five in the morning! Loving loving LOVING those Clarks shoes, they were the best pair to get for sure. No blisters which is great :)

Wearing uniform... kinda love that too! It's not entirely comfortable and the material makes you all sticky about halfway through the shift, but you know what? Kinda happy to be wearing it anyway :)

So far, so good ;) here's to many more days like these!

Gayle xx

Recycling crafty style!

I've been thinking more lately about my own impact on the environment, and as well as changing some of the things that I eat I'm also trying to become more aware of the products around me that go to waste that I can use - now I know that most of you will have a little (or maybe big!) pile of bits and bobs that you rescued from going in the rubbish bin because you had a thought that you might be able to do something with it sometime... I have a box full of things myself!

Lately I have been collecting train tickets and a few Starbucks cup holders on my travels. I spend more time on the train now commuting and when I get a coffee, it's 'to-go' rather than having in the store, so gradually these things have been collecting in my bag. This happens a lot with me in general because I am really bad at sorting things out on a regular basis!

So here are the raw materials:-

I started by coating everything at least twice in white gesso to cover the patterned surface and then used blue and pink Dylusions shades to coat the 5 tickets and the cup-holder, blue on one side and pink on the other. I stamped images on the tickets and cup-holder, using flourish stamps and some main images in black StazOn and green Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I embellished with gold Stickles and also added borders in gold ink to the cards.
I painted an ATC blank purple and folded it in half to slot inside the cupholder so that it would stop the painted cards falling right through.
So why not take a look and see what you can recycle into your crafty stash? Would love to hear about the sorts of things you keep and what you did/intend to do with them :)

Gayle xx

NaNoWriMo

So, NaNoWriMo. If you're not aware, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month - it takes place in November every year and challenges you to write 50,000 words (a novel!) in 30 days.

I want to write a book. Dare I give it a go...?

Have to admit it's been playing on my mind for a while now. Hmm....! To the point where actually, November seems an awful long time away. And I kind of want to write something now, know what I mean? Ever impatient :)

Did you ever want to write a book? Have you ever written a book, or even started one? They say that everyone has a book inside them; what would yours be about?

On a different note (or maybe not, depending on what you get inspired to do!) it's Inspiration Monday at The Scrappy Tree, and Jules has posted a delicious new picture for your delectation :) check here for more details and join in the fun this week :)

Gayle xx

Happy Mother's Day America

Today is Mother's Day in America, so I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the American Moms that I know, and wish them a wonderful day ahead where they get thoroughly spoilt!

We have already had Mother's Day in the UK, but I haven't shared the Mother's Day card I made for my Mum yet, so here it is :-

She's quite into vintage at the moment so I wanted to make something reflecting that style (she is a master of buying beautiful supplies by Tim Holtz, Graphic 45 etc etc but I'm afraid as a student I just had to raid my stash!). I used DCWV Once Upon A Time as the background paper, with some Making Memories journaling cards and a clip, a Jenni Bowlin vintage photo button and some other bits and pieces from my stash. I stitched the background paper to the card with blue thread - just loving that sewing machine at the moment :)

Happy days to all the Mums out there - we love you :)

Gayle xx

Art Journal Friday... from March!

I'm not quite sure at what point the relationship between my camera and my laptop broke down, and as a result I'm fairly sure that there are projects that I could/should have shared but didn't. I have a memory like a sieve, and therefore all I can say for sure is that I didn't share last month's Art Journal Friday and so I really should before I get to posting this month's :)

March's prompt was to be inspired by a book (you can see the original post at The Scrappy Tree here), and this page was very much inspired by the Anne Rice vampire books which were such a major part of my teens! Thank goodness there were so many, thank you Anne :) Anne Rice's books were the Twilight of their time I suppose, but to me always a little darker and less.... teen fiction? (Sorry Stephanie Meyer, I did enjoy the Twilight books too though!). Lestat and Louis, what can I say?

As soon as I saw this picture in a magazine it took me straight to the picture in my mind that formed when I read this scene - I couldn't believe it, it was uncanny! I believe this particular chapter is from the book Queen of the Damned where Akasha and Lestat are flying around the world; from my slightly fuzzy memory they come to a temple on a mountain where the humans are offering themselves as a blood sacrifice to the ancient and powerful vampire there - this picture was exactly the image I had! I haven't read the books for some time, but it was amazing to me how instantly it came back to me. What do they say? A picture is worth a thousand words.

I was torn about whether to add some words from the book to the page or not, what do you think? I also kinda like it the way it is too :)

Happy Art Journaling :)

Gayle xx