I'm in!

Woop woop! I'm so excited that I made it into the artist portfolio section of the latest Somerset Art Journaling magazine. Yayayayayay! For this article I was interviewed by the wonderful Rice Zachary Freeman. It is always an honour to be published by Stampington. 

I haven't got my copy of the magazine yet so I don't know what else is in but I just know it will be fabulous! Until it arrives I am just going to have to wait impatiently for the postman..... If you are into mixed media art and/or art journaling but you haven't heard of this magazine, trust me, you NEED it LOL! If you live in the UK you can hold of this brilliant publication at Art from the heart, the Stamp Attic or Rainbow Silks. 

Byeee for now, I must get back to wrapping the presents....

And the winner is .....

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my celebratory give-away. I used random.org to select a winner and now I can tell you that the winner is no. 59:
Anne Marie 
Who said:
I am new to your blog and I am very excited to participate in the 2012 calendar challenge. I actually found you through Dyan's blog. So love what both of you create! Congrats on so many followers!

Anne Marie

Yay! Congrats to you. Please e-mail me your postal address and the stamps will be on their way to you A.S.A.P. Bad luck if you weren't the winner this time but if you can't live without those stamps don't forget you can get them here.

Not much art been going on around here lately ... what can I say? It's December!! But here's a little door hanger I made for a young friend of mine:

Key Keeper by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

Background stamps by Tim Holtz

Inks by Dylusions

Have you noticed there a few changes to my blog? It's a work in progress ... all the extra pages are blank at the moment but watch this space. I didn't do it by myself of course, oh no! Some things are just way too technical for me so I ask an expert, and in this case I asked the wonderful Susie. I can't recommend Susie highly enough if you want any help redesigning your blog - take a look at her blog, and her Etsy.

That's it from me, byee for now ....

Shimmer and shine

Whisker monster with sign by Stampotique

It's the Stampotique Designers' Challenge time and this time has Val has given us a festive, glittery challenge. Here's the challenge:

For our next challenge Val is here as our hostess.  She is challenging us to break out our "Shimmer, Glimmer, Glitter and Glitz" using shimmery paper, glittery embellishments, glimmery paints/washes/spritz or any kind of glitzy bling in your creations....let your inspiration shine!

Well you know, I'm not really a glittery kind of gal, and I don't really do bling, but I kind of enjoyed it once I got started! I have even used some ... wait for it .... stickles LOL! I added a few glitter baubles over the monster's head, and then gave him a sign challenging you all to 'bring on the bling'.

If you fancy joining us with this fun challenge, have a look at the Stampotique Designers' blog here for all the details.

Byee for now ......

A give-away!

Woo-Hoo! Over 800 blog followers feels like something of an achievement :-) As a way of saying thank you to all of my lovely blog followers I thought I should have another blog give-away ('cos we all like to win something, right?!) If you would like a chance of winning this very useful set of stamps by Dylusions all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post. Simples! This set, called Tallulah Tripp includes fabulous wings, leaves, corners as well as Tallulah herself. Great for journaling ;-)

This give-away will remain open for one week, so I will draw a winner using random.org on Tuesday 20 Dec at 6pm GMT. Feel free to advertise on your blogs. Good luck!

*EDIT: This competition is now closed*

Catching up ...

Tetewea by Daniel Torrente

Paints, inks and background stamps by Dylusions

Just incase you thought I hadn't done by December calendar journal pages, here they are ....! Ooh, just in the nick of time I'd say, but you know, December always seems soooo busy. 

Yesterday I taught a Calendar Journaling class at Art from the Heart to a really fab group, who were a lot of fun. Messy, but fun! Here they are hard at work getting their January pages ready:

We had lots of chat, laughter, tea, cake, and Michael Buble. Well, not in real life (more's the pity) but the sing-along-a-Christmas CD which was good enough.

Cat has done a fab write-up about the day, including wonderful photos on her blog, which you may like to have a look at here.

We had a short break in the afternoon to test my daughter's cake pops which she sent for everyone to try (or maybe to keep them quiet!). These taste as good as they look:

And here's the proof that everyone really enjoyed them:

Many of you have asked if the Calendar challenge will continue next year .... Of course it will! Some of you who started but stopped want to start again, some of you who started and want to keep going will keep going, and I think there are quite a few newbies who would like to join. Yay! Let's keep it going :-) Here's to a colourful 2012!

And don't forget - all of you 2011 calendar challengers - let's show ALL of our 2011 pages at the end of December in a big, giant, show-and-tell blog post. Let's be loud and proud of what we have achieved :-)

On Saturday it was preview day at Art from the heart, and all the up and coming classes were announced. It was a busy, busy day, and a lot of people turned up to get nice and inky at the packed taster classes. All of the new workshop details are being added here, but in the meantime here's a taster of some of the things I will be teaching ......... More details to follow ....

Now, just a couple of things before I go ... all of you art journalers out there may be interested in these that I spotted on Etsy the other day - vintage journaling packs full of bits and bobs and useful stuff for backgrounds and embellishments. Have a look here, you might be interested, just saying that's all  :-)

And finally, come back tomorrow for a little give-away to celebrate 800 followers. Woop woop!