Happy Mail

We've been away for a few days and what days to choose!  Who knew from last Sunday's weather forecast for the week that we would end up with a day like yesterday where it was nearly 20 degrees (C).

We had been to Pembrokeshire and whilst there did Walk 12 of my weekly walks.  We walked round Dinas Island - which isn't an island, just a headland.  We started the walk at somewhere unpronounceable and walked along to another unpronounceable place called Cwn-yr-Eglwys which my family call Eggwhisk.  (Apologies to any Welsh readers at this point!)

Eggwhisk is one of my favourite places in West Wales

This was part of the path we walked along!

And this was us at the topmost point.

And just to prove that I was there, rather than just my camera!

 And this is my favourite photo from the walk.

On our way home yesterday we stopped off at Lydney Harbour which is on the River Severn.  However the tide was out and the river flows on the other side of the estuary.

 Then we called in at Westbury Court Gardens which is a restored 17th century Dutch water garden.

And went a 1 mile walk from the gardens to the River Severn.

When we got home there was a lovely parcel waiting for me.

This was some Happy Mail from Ruth.   Read about her postings here. And inside were some lovely cards to use.  Thank you Ruth.

Ashes to Beauty

I wasn't sure about signing up to the Ashes to Beauty online class because as you know I am not renowned for finishing these things.   Anyway Nana assured me that she would hold me totally accountable for finishing it - facebook messages, skype calls and emails were threatened!!!

It is a 4 week course with a preparation section before week 1.  It also includes creative exercises.   I made another journal like the one I made at Dina's class so that as different things are revealed during the class so they are echoed in the journal with the pages covering hidden nooks and crannies!

I made the cover with the title of the course.

Here are the first two creative exercises

 which sit like this in the journal

Then the third creative exercise.

Here's the last creative challenge for week one which is now finished.

Of course I should be half way through week 2 by now but I shall keep focused on it.

Scrapbook Life Journal February pages

I love this idea organised by Stephanie Ackerman.  She is so generous with her artwork and her weekly prompts.  Plus you can do it your way if you want!

I have been recording my weekly walks in this journal - they are not scrapbook pages so you scrapbook purists may have to look away now.  The background for the page is whatever sheet of paper comes next in the folder and as I used papers I wasn't likely to use for scrapbooking they are not always suitable for the occasion but never mind!  It was a great way to use up 80+ sheets of scrapbook paper from my stash.

The walks:

The Febraury pages based on the word for the month: Surrender

Stephanie supplied us with this doodle to colour and to personalise.

She gave us artwork to print out and use in whatever way we chose.

Another piece of Stephanie's art

We were asked to doodle about surrender but I chose to use this verse from a song.

The paper didn't have a border across the top and down the righthand side.  I used one of Dyan Reaveley's new stencils and mynewly acquired Pan Pastels to produce the flowery border and then drew the black lines on afterwards.

The focus for March is 'Owning Your Talent'.   Come back to see what I make of or from that!