Learn Something New Every Day

Where has the summer gone?   Not just the weather, but the time!    I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I was last on here.

Still I'm back.  Tomorrow brings the start of Learn Something New Every Day with Shimelle.  I first signed up to this in 2008 and finished the whole month.   In 2009 I did the title page and didn't get any further.

I love online classes and I sometimes finish them.   Over the summer I started 52 Card Pickup and @home with Claudine on Big Picture Scrapbooking.  The former has finished although I haven't!   Claudine's class is continuing for another 3 weeks and I'm already 2 weeks behind.

I have signed up for a few others as well.  But more about them as September continues.   I suspect that by the time we're half way through September one of my LSNED pages will be about taking on too much.

I have done some real life classes during the summer as well including an Altered Book workshop with Anneliese.  

 I'm really taken with the idea of altering books - once I got over the panic about tearing pages out of perfectly good books!   I am well on the way to finishing one altered book (not the one in the photos!) and I decided to do my Learn Something New pages in an altered book instead of scrapbooking like last time. 

I've torn the pages out, glued pages together, painted with gesso and inked.   I've even done the cover.   

So, roll on tomorrow.

Arty Crafty Cyber Party

My friends on heART&soul are hosting a Cyber Party over the weekend.  It's our very first cyber event.  If you like to knit, sew, make cards, scrapbook, paint, art journal you may like to have a look firstly at our website: heART&soul and then join our forum where the party is taking place.


I was hoping to play at the party but had the opportunity to come to Florida - so here I am in the Sunshine State - and it's sure living up to its reputation.  Brilliant sunshine and 84 degrees or more.

Art Journaling 301

So having decided to look at what I had already subscribed to with Dina Wakley, I found that although I already had AJ101 and AJ201, she has brought out AJ102 and AJ301. You may have noticed from earlier blogs that I am somewhat addicted to online courses and so of course I had to buy the two courses I hadn't got!!!!!

This time however I was really hooked by AJ301. This is starting an Art Journal from scratch. So for the past few days that's what I've been doing. Just in case I didn't like what I was making I used quite cheap paper which it turned out was not such a good idea! (Keep reading to find out why!)

I tried to stick closely to what Dina was saying in her videos and pdf classes but happily I did wander off a bit - used Distress Inks instead of paint - and have ended up with something similar but not exactly the same. However I've learned a great new technique and when I have the time I shall have another go with other colours and motifs.


The idea was to write my own thoughts and feelings in this journal but I was in a hurry to finish it so instead I used some Unity stamps - Brave Girl - and a set called Quote Bundle, which I bought from Make the Day Special.    The Brave Girl stamps are designed by the same people who have the Brave Girls Club website and send daily emails that are absolutely great.


The difficulty with using cheap paper came when I was sewing the book together.  The spines (or signatures) ripped really easily.   So I will have another go but with better paper.


My reason for getting this finished quickly is that I found a really cheap flight to Florida so I am off on Wednesday for a week to stay with friends.