LIttle Details

On Thursdays Carolyn has a meme called Little Details. I haven't been out and about much recently so have looked out some photos taken sometime over the summer for the next few weeks. This one was taken at Crail harbour in Fife.

Why not go and check out some of the other photos.

Time for Tea

Abi over at creating paper dreams has a montly meme called Time for Tea - I have joined in some months, but not since August.

Would you like to join me for coffee and cake this month?

This is the cake that I made at the weekend for Dr Who's 50th Anniversary Episode, which we thought was great. I can't actually offer you a piece of this as it is all finished, but we would discuss the episode and which doctor we liked the best!

I would tell you that I am feeling better after my "heart event", but that I still get tired very easily. I would tell you about the Cardio Rehab I have been going to, where we do some exercises and some relaxation and that I have started going to Tai Chi classes, which I hope will help with my relaxation. We would discuss different ways we have found to manage our stress, which is inevitable in life. I am having to do some thinking and some re-evaluation of what I do in various things I am involved in and see if any changes need to be made. I suppose some introspection is normal at this time of year anyway and we talk about whether we had words for the year and what they might be for next year.

We would talk about Christmas as how fast it is approaching! I have yet to start my Christmas shopping this year and I wonder how you are getting on with yours. This will be our first Christmas in our new house so I do feel a bit excited about where to put decorations etc. Christmas dinner will be here at our house, and all the family will be coming, which is nice. I ask you about what your plans for Christmas? We talk about how commercial Christmas seems to get every year and I tell you about the Pause for Advent that I am joining in again with this year, hosted by Floss.

We talk about our crafting and I tell you that I have been knitting a bit more and getting back into crafting gradually. I did start a Christmas Journal last year, but didn't finish it so think I will do some more in it this December. Are you doing a Christmas Journal?

All too quickly it is time to leave and we wish each other a lovely time at Christmas and the New Year.

Fun

This page is for my Attitude of Gratitude Journal run by Bernice. The theme was Fun and it certainly was fun to do this technique. First you put a thick layer of Gesso over the page, then heat it with a heat gun until it bubbles, then you can add more gesso and repeat the process. I then used chalks to add colour and also some spray mists. I really enjoyed this technique.

I have finally blocked this shawl I made many months ago. It is knitted in Noro sock wool and I loved watching the colours change.

I am feeling better, although still tire easily. I have started at Cardio Rehab which is good and tomorrow I start back at work.

LIttle Details

My photo for this weeks Little Details was taken in the Tea Room at Durham Cathedral, where we needed to go after buying some books. I just liked the colour of the carnation.

Why not go check out Carolyns blog for some more little details photos.

More Gratitude Pages

I have managed to do another three pages in my Gratitude Journal, this is a project that Bernice is running over at Attitude of Gratitude

This page is Community and talks about all the different communities in our lives. I am certainly very grateful for all the online communities I am part of, I have got to know some lovely people through them and have joined in with some lovely projects. I did the background for this page by putting some paint (I used paint dabbers) onto a craft sheet then dragged the page through them. I then stamped the circles on it.

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Declaration - I thought I would just put two important declarations on this page, that I am a child of God and that I am creative. As our God is a creative God and we are made in His image then I believe that everyone can be creative. I used Distress Inks on the background for this page and then used stencils with the inks for the dots and the squares down the side.

 Experience - this page was made using Distress Inks swept across the page and then some details added with a sponge, then stamped on. I liked the effect of this one, although I really to get some Distress Inks in different colours.

LIttle Details

It's Thursday so it must be time for Little Details again. A weekly meme hosted by Carolyn. I took this photo while at Durham Cathedral. I thought it looked a bit incongruous to have a modern light bulb in an old lamp.

Why not pop over to Carolyn's blog and see what other little details other people have found.

Passport to Art

In July Bernice ran a project called Passport to Art, in which you altered a book, she again gave prompts, quotes, Bible verses and techniques for you to copy. Well I knew I was never going to do it in July as that is when we were on holiday, but I had hoped to get started before now. Anyway at last I have started and I am going to continue this project, but not to a deadline.

First I got a book in a charity shop

 then I removed some pages

 then I folded pages

and finally I did the first days page. I painted the backgrounds with acrylic paint. The left hand page I used images from napkins for the birds, butterflies and flowers, then did some stamping. On the right hand page I punched out little feet to indicate going on a journey.

Back to backing

Over the past few days I have been getting back into baking and cooking, which I enjoy but haven't time for recently. This is something I am going to do more often as I find it relaxing - my family are rather happy about this as well.

I make pumpkin soup

and chocolate cake, especially for Andrew!

I also made pumpkin bread and muffins but forgot to take a photo of them!

What is your favourite recipe?

Gratitude Journal

This year Bernice is again running An Attitude of Gratitude project for the month of November, you can find details of it here. I joined in a little last year, so have decided to add some pages for this year in the same book. I might not do a page for every day, but will do some. I am also recording three things to be grateful for each day on an app on my Ipad, this I am doing every day and will probably keep on doing after the end of the month, aiming to be more positive in my life.

Anyway I have done pages for the first three days. These first pages all use different techniques with Distress Inks.

Day 1 was Permission - this is something which is important for me at the moment, as I need to give myself permission to spend time on creative pursuits. I created the page using Distress Inks applied direct to the page then spritzed with water then used my brayer over the page.

Day 2: was Attitude. The TED talk also talked about awareness and authentic, I liked these words and thought they were also very relevant to me at the moment as my attitude to lots of things needs to change a bit and I am trying to always be positive. The background was created using Distress Inks and the block technique.

 Day 3 was Acceptance. To create this page I used Distress Inks directly onto the page, then spritzed them with water to make the inks run. I then doodled round some of the shapes that I saw in the background.

Bernice has again put a lot of effort into this free project, there is a quote, a Bible verse, an Inspiration and a technique and some journalling prompts each day. Why not go and check it out.