Goodbye 2012, hello 2013!

Well, I'm a little late in my round-up of 2012 but it was such an amazing year for me that I wanted to take a little trip down memory lane ... prepare for a photo fest!

During the early part of 2012 I was featured on the Scrapphusset blog in Norway:

And I also wrote an article for Ett Trykk magazine in Norway:

I was invited back as a guest Designer on the Tiddlyinks blog, for their two year anniversary and created this journal page with a theme of 'Framed':

In May, a dream came true for me. I had the opportunity to attend Ranger U in USA with my lovely (but slightly bonkers friend) Kaz. It would have been rude to go all that way without a little sightseeing in NYC. When in NYC you just HAVE to wear a statue of Liberty hat as you stroll down 5th Avenue!

We did a Thelma and Louise on an open-top bus tour:

After a while Neil joined us from the UK. Spot the moustache imposter:

We met up with the very lovely Marjie Kemper (who waited very patiently for us as we got lost trying to find our way to the Ink Pad in NYC). We went for afternoon tea in Times Square and showed Marjie how a lady should behave in public:

Eventually we made it to Ranger U in New Jersey and met up with the famous, one and only, Dyan:

And the fabulous Tim Holtz:

Kaz and I spotted some of our art on the wall of the education room at Ranger Ink. Woohoo!

And then we graduated as fully qualified Ranger Educators!

 On return to the UK I headed to Traplet Studios to film some more Art Journaling DVDs, which thanks to all of you out there have sold really well. THANK YOU so so much for buying my DVDs and embracing art journaling with such a passion :-))

By mid-summer I was the featured artist on the Stampington blog which was of course, a HUGE honour:

I also featured on Marit's Funky Dutch Summer series and created this as an on-line project:

A real highlight of my year was discovering that my art was featured on the front of Art Journaling magazine Woohoo!! Again, such a huge honour :-)

Throughout the year I have continued to do a lot of art teaching but I spread my wings a little as the year went on. I have taught a lot at the amazing Art from the Heart in 2012, and hopefully will continue to do so:

I also had a frantically busy, fun-filled, inky four days at de Craftorij in Holland where the Dutch enthusiasm for mixed media art blew me away!

I also had a very lovely time teaching at The Stamp Attic in Oxford where I really do hope to return during 2013:

2012 was the year that I re-discovered my love of analogue (film) photography and took some photos that I am really happy with:

The Iron Men at Crosby Beach (and my daughter being a little cheeky!)

Me through a fish-eye lens

  I also discovered Smash journaling which is great for capturing special memories on-the-go:

I took up stamp carving which I definitely want to do more of this year (and I know some of you would like to buy some of my stamps so watch this space!)

I invested in a Gelli-Arts plate and I LOVE it! Great possibilities with this.....

Of course, in the UK we had a very British summer with a Royal Jubilee and the Olympics to celebrate:

And in true British style it p****d it down all summer (and spring, and autumn, and winter) and we have had continual flooding, keeping the emergency services busy ...

So, that's my round-up of an amazing year, and on top of all this I have a part-time day job, two kids and husband to look after (not to mention the rabbit, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters and the dog!) When I put it all on a blog post like this it makes me realise why I am always so tired!!

But just to finish here are some peeks of some of my fave art creations from this year:

My kids! heehee!

My hand-carved bunny again!

*Created as part of an on-line class with Mindy Lacefield

It's that bunny again .. !

My final creation as a member of the Stampotique DT *sniff*

A massive thanks to all of you who visit my blog, leave me lovely comments, take part in the calendar challenge (now on facebook too!), buy my DVDs, attend my art classes etc etc xoxoxoxoxo 

THANK YOU, thank you from the bottom of my heart :-)

So, what does 2013 hold for me? After much deliberation I decided to step down from the Stampotique DT after 2 years, just because it felt like the right time to go. Of course I still love the stamps so expect to see more creations with them through the year. Hopefully lots more teaching at Art from the Heart, and maybe more teaching in Oxford, Middlesborough, Sheffield, and maybe even Holland again.  I'd like to sell some of my art creations (Etsy? Folksy? What do you think?) I'd like to carve some stamps to sell, and maybe even design some rubber stamps .....

I'm still a member of the Dylusions DT (look out for a little something by me if you are at CHA this January Shhhh!) so expect lots more inky goodness throughout 2013 ...

And of course I am going to be a part of this amazing and exciting on-line teaching extravaganza (going on sale soon - watch this space!)

Click *here* for more details

Happy new year everyone. Wishing you a joyous, art-filled 2013!