A beautiful gift!

 On Monday I received a beautiful gift for my birthday from my lovely sister in law! She is an art teacher at high school and decided to get me a few arty bits because she knew I was going to college for Art and Design in August.

Now that little Journal is leather, embossed with a gorgeous big elephant on the front and is loaded full of hand made paper!

Sooooo....seeing as it has a very 'Indian' feel to it I decided to do these pages!

Handmade paper does NOT like water, so I covered the pages with Gesso and then inked them up with Dylusions spray inks, I just then drew some Mehndi designs on top!

Love the way these have turned out!


just a quick post tonight, not really got much to show just now anyway, still been a bit busy with appoinments and such likes!

Take care all , and thanks for dropping by

Jackie xx

Worse than the buses lol....

Don't see anything for ages and then it all comes along at once!!!

My humble apologies for being such a bad blogger, I've just been so wrapped up in 'life stuff' at the moment. So much so that I haven't even taken part in any blog challenges for a couple of weeks.

So instead of inundating you with loads of posts, I'll just do one mega post, so get a comfy cushion and a cupppa and get ready for a 'novel' lol!!

Starting off way back on June 22nd, it was my 'wee boy's' 18th birthday!! I can't believe that he's 18 already!, just where has the time gone! Anyway, he didn't really want a huge fuss because he's saving for driving lessons so he wanted me to put the money I would have used for a party into the bank towards that, that was fine by me ! A pretty sensible idea! So, I just took him for a slap up meal at the local restaurant and then into the pub for a few beers! A few of his mates turned up so it ended up a good laugh. Got evidence too lol !!

Yes that was taken fairly early on....note the fact that there are no empty glasses!! Anyway....we didn't do too badly, and I did give them all fright when they thought that I couldn't handle the Jaeger Bombs!! lol!! I showed 'em good!! lol..

Right, that's enough of the birthday shenanigans......or not....had to go and get some 'stuff' dealt with the day after and guess what?.... yup! We kind of ended up doing the same again lol!! This time it was some of MY mates that turned up! And it was a complete hysterically fun and enjoyable day!! Thought we'd both be ill on Sunday but it was fine :D

The next couple of weeks were really taken up with lots of legal meetings, letter writing, form filling....blah blah blah, catch up tidy up stuff!

I DID however mange SOME crafting, mainly journalling so I'm going to show you what I've done with an explanation if I can.

I did these pages for a reason, just got sooooo fed up with being criticised all the time! Plus the fact that it gave me the chance to practise my drawing! The background was done using Dylusions Inks the rest is all hand drawn except for the phrase which was printed out on the computer.

These two pages are pretty self explanatory so I won't bore you with the details but I think you get the idea...


A wee while ago I joined a journalling group on Facebook, one of the ladies did a spread about her tattoo so I decided to do one of mine....was quite pleased with the way this turned out, I printed off the photos of my tattoos and then just drew the the other images myself. Not brilliant and I certainly won't make a  tattoo artist that's for sure but I do like these pages...

These next two pages I just finished off today and I am thrilled to bits with them, sooooo bright and colourful and they really make you smile!

Done using Dylusions Inks, and stencils, and the stamps are from Chocolate Baroque and are coloured using Inktense pencils. Just really enjoyed chilling out colouring in these flowers and butterflies! That big butterfly is just perfect for shrink plastic!!

While I was in the middle of those pages I received a lovely surprise from the postie! It was a present for me for my Birthday on Monday! Dammit she remembered! lol...... thought I could be sneaky and just let this one slip by!! lol.......... seriously though.....it was THE most STUNNING card and gift! So much so that I shed a tear or two!........Everything about this piece just screams "ME"!! .......so without further ado, I'll quit with the waffling and leave you alone to look at the pictures of these exquisite pieces of art!!

A gorgeous card and matching envelope! The wording is from the classic Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild"! Isn't that card just amazing?...........and here is the gift! I am totally blown away by this! It is absolutely gorgeous!!......

Just have a wee look and see what's above the 'door'! Now THAT was clever! lol....it's the Bacardi Bat....and yep! you've guessed it! I drink Bacardi! Such a clever little touch that :D

And here is what was behind that door...........

..... a sweet little 'parcel' with some adorable crafty embellishments! Beautiful roses on  clothes pegs, loads of divine little buttons and charms, some crystal teardrops, lace, 'ruler' ribbon and loads more.


I am such a lucky girl to receive such a beautiful gift as this and I will treasure for years to come! It didn't half lift my spirits I can tell you. Not really had too much to smile about recently so this just made my day!

THANK YOU MY FRIEND .... It means a lot !


So on that note i will be off......I have waffled on waaaaaaay too long and your bums are bound to be getting numb! lol


Take care and thanks for dropping by


Jackie x

WOYWW 159

Can't believe it's Wednesday already! First of all I would like to welcome some new followers - Thank You for taking the time out to read about my rather hectic journey in life!

Secondly many apologies for not making round everyone's desks last week, there were just too many and i simply ran out of hours ... *sighs*.... it's not going to be much better this week either, My son is 18 on Friday and I have 'things' to organise.... muhahahah ... !

Anyway, if you are wondering if I've lost the plot by showing you my my creative space then pop over to JULIA'S PLACE to see what it's all about! you'll love it!!

My desk this week has been caught in a mid mini tidy up! I had just finished that Collage canvas  - see HERE for a better look if you are interested..... so I was tidying away the paints and 'stuff' when I remembered what day it was!! So I just took that photo while I was at it!

I am going to take a couple of days off from crafting because I NEED to do the dreaded h*******k !! My place looks like a small thermo-nuclear device has exploded in it! It would be a whole lot easier if I could get rid of this 'stuff' I'm storing for my soon-to-be-ex-husband though...*sighs* ... I have the hairdressers tomorrow, and an appointment of Friday....then off out with the teenager on Friday night for his birthday (did i mention that already?) lol..... he didn't want a 'big do' because he would like  the money I would have spent on that put towards his provisional driving licence.... and who said teenagers were selfish.... I thought that was a pretty sensible idea and one i am more than willing to go along with! His mates will probably all take him out 'clubbing' for a night to celebrate anyway....so it's just basically going to be a night in the pub with me and 'him'  (ID card arriving on time permitting)!... lol... (poor kid doesn't know what he's in for)!!!lol..

Right, I'm off ! Got loads to do an not enough time to do it in...

Take care and Happy WOYWW

Jackie x

Textured Collage on canvas board.

I so wish I could have taken a better photo of this piece because there are so many different layers and textures on this piece! This photo just doesn't do it justice!

Anyway, it's done on a 10 inch by 12 inch canvas board, using magazine images, lots and LOTS of Gesso and acrylics along with some spray inks, die cuts and some odd bits of lace.

I saw this image in a magazine and loved it, so I tore it out and ran it through a Cuttlebug embossing folder then stuck it down onto the board using Gesso, added some mixed browns acrylic paint an more Gesso then stuck down some Alterations die cuts, mainly Vintage lace trim and also the Mannequin dress from, just slabbered <----- technical term that....lol...over some more acrylics and gesso with my fingers. did some random imperfect stamping then added some more die cuts, this time Tattered Florals, these were cut from a mesh fabric and look great when stuck down. again I just slabbered on some acrylics over the top. I also added an off cut of some old beaded lace which was white but I added some mixed browns and copper metallic acrylics to blend it in. I randomly rubbed over some Copper acrylic paint to try and highlight some of the the textures.

Hopefully here are a couple of close ups of some of the textures.....

The phrase was downloaded from the Internet and just handwritten onto an old torn book page. I distressed the wording with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink and then stuck the phrase down onto the board.

I am really pleased with this piece because it's my first proper attempt at collage!


Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Art Journal Challenge....

Yes another one! lol.....I actually managed to be on time with this one!!

Over on The Art Journal Cafe The challenge this time is a Colour one! I'm not really very happy with this because I screwed up in the middle of one of the pages hence the stupid position of the VW Camper van! So I ended up improvising slightly, I guess I just got 'put off' a little.  Still I've managed to cover the challenge and use what was asked for so it's turned out not too bad in the end!

That's one of the good things about journaling... if you DO screw up it doesn't matter too much....you always have it to look back and learn what NOT to do! It IS fun just playing with all the new techniques and thrying them out though.


Thanks for looking

Jackie x

Art Journal challenge .

Over on the Art Journal Cafe blog The challenge at the start of this month was Technique! ( I'm a bit behind lol)
Multiple layers of colour, collage and dimension! So me being me and REALLY in the mood for playing I used them all!


I started off by glueing some book pages to my journal pages, then gave them all a 'plastering with Gesso! Wanted as much 'texture' as I could manage with such runny Gesso. When dried I mixed up and added a coat of acrylic paint, when this was dried, I mixed up yet more paint, this time in reds, white and Gesso and painted round the edges of the pages, leaving the centres of the pages 'blank'. When this was dry, I then 'dry' brushed through some sequin waste, added some stamping (the ink blots) and then used some lids off a coffee jar and a bead storage container to give me the hollow circles! I also used an old debit card to give me the white and teal 'lines' .

I put the whole thing aside to dry and then started work on the heart, which was done by drawing around the lid of a heart shaped box. I covered the whole thing in Gesso roughly to give me texture, dried it off with a heat gun and then mixed up some Deep Red and Burnt Umber acrylic paint gave the heart a coat of paint but wiped some of it off with a baby wipe so you could see the texture underneath.  I dried it off and stuck it to the journal page, blended it using what was left on my pallet along with some Gesso, then edged it with some doodles!

Here is a close up of the heart so you can see some of the texture ....

The wording on the opposite page is just drawn very roughly and then coloured in using a black fine liner, I use a heart shape instead of the letter " o " just to theme it in a bit.

The edges are done using the 'waste' from The Vintage Lace Alterations die, I just doodled some hanging hearts and white dots to finish it off a little. The Keyhole and Key are again an Alterations die cut, i just painted them using some burnt umber and teal to give a slightly 'rusty' look. I edged them with a gold marker to make them stand out a little.

I've had an absolute blast doing these pages today! thoroughly enjoyed my playtime and can't wait to have a go at the next challenge, which is up on the above website now!

Thanks for looking


Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 158 !

Picture the scene ...... laptop open and I'm blogging..... cat curled up on the sofa next to me and purring VERY loudly, a gallon of steaming hot coffee and total silence..... all ready to go for a trip around the world for the phenomenonononon....that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday run by the fantastic MRS DUNNIT over at HER PLACE ! So why not pop over and have a wee look to see what I'm on about! It'll be fun and it's a GREAT excuse or not getting any housework done! :P lol...

The scene earlier on this morning was NOT so 'heavenly' though.....there I was at 8 a.m. in my big purple fleecy dressing gown, head like a hedgehog on steroids (don't ask because I don't know, but you get the idea) lol and not a tooth in my head!! Was answering the door to my son's mate! They both have a second interview (skills test this time) for a place they applied for at College, they wanted to get away early because the Olympic torch is coming into Falkirk today and the traffic will be horrendous!! Trust me when I say that the Wicked Witch of the North looked a helluva lot better than I did!! lol....I was NOT a pretty sight! lol

Anyway I digress somewhat!... On my ...erm...shall we say ..'creative space' this week lol...A  gorgeous ATC that was done for the 3rd WOYWW birthday swap! And I have to say it is just gorgeous!! Very cleverly done and i love it!! So THANK YOU KAREN aka Ink, Paper and Scissors! ...

Here's a close up of the cleverness.....

I just adore those 'mini polaroids' of my workdesk!! THAT is such a great touch! Got to figure out how that lettering was embossed though....that's just so cool!! And I have to say that I love the lovely card that came with it too...all the way from Canada too... :D

The other fancy wee ATC is from Mrs D aka Julia and had the WOYWW badge attatched! I love this little piece! How she managed to see that 'teensy totsie' wee man to stick him onto that card is beyond me lol...but he is ever so 'cute'!

Here's a close up ...

Cool innit?!! ....

I have another ATC to come yet but that's 'winging' it's way from America so it will take a bit longer. which I don't mind. I have actually managed to POST OFF MY ATC'S at long last long! .... so to my 'swap' partners....they are on their way to you and hopefully they won't be too long in getting to you! Once again I am so sorry for the delay.

The other 'stuff' on my desk.... is well.... just the usual creative stuff...my art journal, which I actually managed to get a couple of 'dark' pages done for, (needed to vent a little) ... a big 'bits and bobs' journal that I use for practicing ideas, and as you can see I'm in the middle of some 'tangling'! ....and piles of other 'stuff' that I've just been too plain lazy to put away lol...

So there you have it.... I completely disobeyed Julia's rules to keep this post short and sweet this week.... lol...So I am now procrastinating on whether or not to mow my lawn, the sun is actually shining but seeing as I'm in Scotland it won't be for long lol...it is to be raining tomorrow and my lawn is currently looking like the local farmer's meadow!! Wonder if he would lend me a sheep!! lol...

So Thank You for dropping by, take care and Happy WOYWW !


Jackie xx