I did it! 52 art journal cards on display ...

I can't believe that it's been a whole year since this started, and I can hardly believe I actually kept it going and finished it! Big thanks to Emily Falconbridge for this, for getting me thinking, and making me realise I can play with paints and 'arty' things, and have great fun too. This is all the cards together: in a big heap / in week order like a big set of dominoes / some of my favs / and all in their home box.

Self realisation

Week 45 - guess we're on the home straight now, of Em's Art Journal challenge. This prompt was self realisation - I didn't want to go for just one moment but tried to remind myself of all the things needed for this to happen! So, kind of a note to self then....

The missing 43

Entitled scary .... the halloween art card.... which mysteriously disappeared from my pc.... hmmmm......

Art Cards

Well I've been working away on them but haven't posted for a bit so here's a wee catch up - I can hardly believe it's now week 44 .... And the prompt was home - I travel lots so keep thinking that (eventually) all roads lead to home! This is weeks 39-42: Not anymore; Where would you like to be?; A grateful week, and someone special. 43 was scary - but I can't find the piccy at the mo! Will try to sort that out.

Art Journal Cards

Couple of weeks of catch up here (again...) This is weeks 36, 37 and 38 shown together.

The first prompt (by Emily Falconbridge) was "life is beautiful", and I copied Em's use of the index photo here as it seemed so right. Piccies are of my hols on Islay in May. The next was to "draw something". Hhhhmmm, not too good at that, though I'd love to be. So somehow ended up drawing something that looks scarily like a Christmas tree , with the journalling reading that winter is on the way! And the last was "I wonder". I couldn't resist the BG Phoebe wee birdie paper, so of course I wonder what the wee birdies are telling people....

Strength and roundabouts

This week's art journal card from Emily Falconbridge's prompts was STRENGTH. Hhhm quite a hard one, til I realised I had this photo of an elephant's trunk, which I'd printed off to use in the elephant task lesson lo but it didn't fit. So I cropped it, and wrote all over it! Journalling reads: "is gentleness, will, discipline, wisdom, compassion, love, fairness, belief, sharing, quiet, loud, ongoing, hard won, is from within, and without". And today's lesson lo from Shimelle's online class came from a comment my sister made to me on the phone this morning, while talking about my life....

Laugh? I could have cried ...

This week's art journal prompt from Emily Falconbridge - was funny ha ha - what makes you laugh? Well, sometimes, for no apparent reason, I get a bit hysterical, you start laughing so hard the tears roll down your face, and then everyone else laughs cos they have no idea what you're laughing at! The last time this happened was posing for my birthday piccies with the Gingy cake my sis made for me. Ah well, where would be if we couldn't laugh! Mind you, laughing is not a great idea for me at the mo, while I am on the mend, and even had a lovely birthday walk along the canal to the pub for lunch with OH yesterday, the tonsils still aren't seeing the funny side of life quite yet. But I did get to play with the new Adirondack paint dabbers the nephews gave me - that was fun!

Art card catch up

Well, I managed to break the scrapping drought tonight - first time in almost two months, or at least that's what it feels like! I'm at home with tonsillitis at the mo, and felt ok enough to have a play, and yeuchy enough to ignore all the housework I should maybe have done instead.... So here are my weeks 29-33 of Emily Falconbridge's Art Journal cards: Count your blessings (for they are many) 10 minutes (to remind me what I could do with 10 minutes!) Quiet (Sssssh.....) No Regrets (Absolutely none) Perfection (is not necessary - I keep telling myself this) Goal of the week (Tidy up!) So there you go, maybe I'll tidy up and do a lo tomorrow!!

Week 27

Ali Edwards is Emily's guest this week for the art journal cards, and her prompt really threw me when I first saw it. It was to use junk mail in a creative way! Well, in my new uncluttered existence I fling it out as soon as it comes in so I had to wait to get some more, but of course you never have to wait very long do you? I had the painted card already made (I made a big batch weeks ago) and just loved the way certain words jumped out at me from this flyer. Sorry if it's a bit small, can't seem to take wee piccies without blurring, but the words I used are: who knows where you might end up just visit EXPERIENCES fantastic some unbelievable L I V E

Daughters

Emily Falconbridge's art journal card prompt was very apt this week, as she has just brought a daughter, Yindi, into the world, and they're both looking beautiful on her blog! I used a piccie from Christmas this year of me and my sister with my mum. Sorry that the piccie is not great - I'm still struggling to take piccies of smallish things.... Anyone else struggling with the muggish weather at the mo? I've been really unsettled all day...

Hello again

Back now from working away again, and after the obligatory day or two of sheer collapse and this time unfortunately, trying to unkink my back, here I am catching up on Emily Falconbridge's art journal challenge. Week 24 "Remember when...", something random you'd never journalled or created about before. So this was from my first trip abroad, to Helsinki, in 1989. And week 25 is a photo that means something. This was hard cos it's kind of a small size for a photo, but this is one of the little buddha on the road home / road north, on a high point on the road, looking out over the loch and the mountains. Lots of people must stop and leave little stone piles and thoughts, but I never see them, I always have him to myself. I don't always stop, but it's nice to know he's there. Peaceful and calming.

Right Now!

Week 23 of Emily Falconbridge's Art Journal Card challenge and the prompt is 'right now'. Well, right now, I feel like thing have really got to change. I am fat and tired and sore today, and after walking round London yesterday and flying back home I am realizing that I cannot live like this and have the kind of life I want. I am not healthy and I have to lose weight, get fitter and become healthier. In other words, having decluttered the flat I now need to move on to me, and change things round to get the body I need to live my life. I know it won't happen overnight (I didn't get like this overnight!) and I will need to be very disciplined and sort out a few emotional lifestyle issues which result in me eating too much and the wrong things. And I will need to start liking exercise. But I enjoyed my trip yesterday, it was sunny and hot and great to see places you'd only seen on the telly before. But I also hate the fact that my skin is chafed and sore, my feet are blistered and I was so tired I went to bed and slept this afternoon. Hhmmm, food for thought (rather than for my mouth!) The pink flower lists what I am "fat,tired, sore" and the purple flower where I am headed "healthy, organised, happy". I'll keep you informed!

I want to learn ... week 22

There's lots of things I want to learn. I love learning. I'm just back from five days in Italy, and now I want to learn Italian, to learn to drive on the other side of the road, to learn to dress stylishly. When I came back from Germany I wanted to learn German. I want to learn to speak fluently in Gaelic and not have to keep resorting to English for certain things. I want to learn how to emboss things properly and how to paint. I want to learn yoga and how to stay healthy and calm in body and mind. I decided I had to chose just one thing for this card. So it's a deep seated want: I love the music, the passion, the elegance, the drama. It must be amazing to be able to dance tango...

Aspirations

This week's art card prompt from Emily Falconbridge was either your redeeming qualities or your aspirations. I started thinking of my redeeming qualities, and decided I would make a good sheepdog from the sound of it, and it's kinda hard to think of that yourself, so I settled on aspirations. That's easier.

Calmness, serenity, wisdom, compassion, honesty and beauty in all I do.

Creative Catch Up!

Yep, been playing that again... had a lovely session this morning and caught up with weeks 15-20 of Emily Falconbridge's Art Card challenges (amazing how easy things can be in a decluttered flat....)

These ones are

Week 15 - your parents - a piccie of Mum and Dad taken at a wedding about 20 odd years ago now.

16 - get someone else to contribute (the quote from the paper, pp from a RAK, embellies from a swap)

17 - your bedroom - using the colours here to reflect peace and calmness

18 - nature - how do you choose what to do? There is so much in nature, I just used what I had to hand piccie wise.

19 - surprise - how do you feel about it? Well, little loving ones can be great, big ones can be a bit scarey.

20- change - is really the only constant I guess, so we just have to keepn rolling along with it.

Some have wee bits of journalling on the back just explaining my reaction to some of these things.

Birds

On a roll here so decided to get on with this week's Emily Falconbridge art journal - and the prompt was..... birds. Hhhm, didn't expect that one! So I thought about it, about birds and what they represented. I loved books such as Callanish, about the eagle which escaped from London zoo, and remember the glorious sight of a pair of golden eagles in Kintail, and ended up with this kind of hazy card. The cut out words say spirit and dignity. There were so many words that birds seems to evoke - wisdom, hope, inspiration, soar, fly, freedom, spirit. Birds feature quite a lot in mythology as well. I've had a little owl ever since my first year at uni - when I studied classics and needed as much help from Athena as possible! The raven is a bird with a great brooding and potent presence too, and appears in many Celtic tales. But I decided to stay with the eagles for this card.

What's on your mind?

Getting fit! I have to do something, and keep it going as well. All this spring weather, and bright colours and lack of clothes that fit have a lot to do with it, and it has been on my mind all week. So it seemed the thing to do for Emily's Art Journal prompt this week, week 13 would you believe? I keep starting things, like yoga, or healthy eating, or walking, but it slips after a week or two, so I need to mend my ways and somehow make it part of my life!

And in the spirit of my alter ego the White Rabbit, I am just scrapping in another UKS weekly challenge before the deadline. The challenge was to use a children's title (for Hans Christian Anderson), tartan (for Edinburgh science week), 2 types of brown in the papers (for choccie) and something new (for spring). So this is a photo from a Baltic cruise Mum and I went on in May 2005, and is the first of probably loads of los from the trip. I loved Hans Christian Anderson stories as a kid, and it was great to walk along the quayside in Copenhagan in gorgeous sunny weather and come across the famous statue.

I believe Week 12

I believe in lots of things, but basically I believe in myself, that I can live the kind of life I want to live, that it's all in the mind so to speak, that life is there for me to make something of no matter what happens, that to be happy and have a good life is to have the right state of mind. I also hope that you will believe that this is not really a tiggerish orange and black colour scheme (though Tigger is not a bad role model really) but actually the same nice copper paint I used before. Hhm, I thought if I photographed in daylight it would look better?? I also believe that I have a lot to learn!

K is for...

Week 11 of Emily Falconbridge's Art Journal Cards.... where does the time go eh? This week the challenge was to use your initial, that letter that kind of sums you up. I use it all the time, in txts, at the bottom of emails to friends and colleagues, in formal stuff with my last name as well, all sorts of places. So here it is, my big red bold K!

And while the paints were out I did the bases for a few more cards, and a another couple of wee canvases. I love this coppery acrylic (bought from Tescos with my messages even!), so will need to think up a few more things for it.

The weather is being kind of weird here - blizzards that last about 10 minutes and then the sun comes out and it looks like spring, but oh boy is it cold!

I love the recent mini books that Shimelle has put on her blog, so am off to have a wee play and see what I can come up with. See you soon.

K x

Note to Self...

Relax, breathe, create, relax, it's simple!! And if I'd had any room left I would have said "And smile!!" This is week 10 of Emily Falconbridge's fab deck of cards prompts, and I had fun with this. I wanted to make it much more colourful than the rest, but this is how it turned out! And I will try to act on my note.... And here are weeks 1-10 all grouped together - quite fun seeing them like this. Anyone know how they're going to store theirs yet?