Better late than never...!!!

Yayy I am getting Blogger to work at last..!!! Apparantly there are new settings that I didnt know about which will make it easier..Its still taking a while as I am typing this after a large glass of wine. Wine in the afternoon you might ask..!!!! Well its my fellas birthday today and hes home. Yes miracles of miracles he is here.

First I need to thank the lovely Kirstiwithani for the blog award she gave me over a week ago. Very apt for me yeah.

I have to answer the following questions with one word. Wtf...??? Me one word.??? Ok here goes.

1.. Where is your cell phone? … bra

2. Your hair? … cool

3. Your mother?… Dead

4. Your father?… Dead

5. Your favourite food? … chocolate

6. Your dream last night?… Xrated

7. Your favourite drink? …Tea

8. Your dream/goal?…happiness

9. What room are you in?… bedroom

10. Your hobby?… life.

11. Your fear?… blindness

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?… Greece

13. Where were you last night? …bed

14. Something that you’re aren’t?… normal

15. Muffins?… No

16. Wish list item? … tummy tuck

17. Where did you grow up? … I havent

18. Last thing you did?… blog

19. What are you wearing?… nothing

20. Your TV?… no

21. Your Pets?… no

22. Friends? … priceless

23. Your life?… mad

24. Your mood?… manic

25. Missing Someone?… not today

26. vehicle?…anything

27. Something your not wearing?… anything

28. Your favourite store? … FCUK.

29. Your favourite colour?… black

30. When was the last time you laughed?… now

31. Last time you cried?… yesterday

32. Your best friend?… Su

33. One place that I go to over and over? … work

34. Facebook?… yes

35. Favourite place to eat?… bed

So there you go I managed most of them.....

Rememnber I told you about Bens tash for prostrate cancer. Well the beard came off to leave the most disgusting moustache ever, as was intended...

Here are the photos from Saturdays workshop. We had a fabulous day even though we overran by an hour, lol. We were making Christmas tags. Each one a different technique... The students were fabulous.

Here from L - R  Margaret and Michelle                                                                                                     

                                                                                                  

Julie and Eunice                                                                                                                                       

Emma and Karen                                                                                                                                   

Lynn and Liz                                                                                                                                         

Sandra and Chris                                                                                                                                   

I love my mate Sandra to death, she is a Northern Soulie and an absolute darling... She brought me the most go=rgeous Zetti inspired Santa ornament.                                                                                                  

Sunday was the painted sledge workshop and due to illness we were down to 3 students.   But what a great day we had. They amazed me with the way that they picked up the painting. They were naturals .

Heres Jane                                                                                                                                              

And Cath                                                                                                                                                  

Heres later in the day                                                                                                                             

And heres the final result.                                                                                                                             

I,m sorry if things are all over the place on here, but I,n sure I will get used to it eventually. Right I,m off to sing Happy Birthday .!!!                                                                                                                           

Enjoy  xx                                                                                                                                                   

  

                                                                                                                    

Not again...!!!!

I,m giving up tonight...Blogger is refusing to play nicely so I,m taking my ball home..!!! Will reschedule for the morning. Sees you all then.

Enjoy xx

Ephemera excitement

Thought I would start you off with a little quiz. You have to guess who this is..??? He,d just had his first haircut, so was minus his long blond curls..!!!

Did you guess..??? Yup its my baby...Our Ben. It is his birthday today. 27yrs old...!!!! Amazing isn't it. How am I Mum to a 27yr old..??? lmao. He doesn't usually look like this, but him and his mates from the Rugby club are all raising money for Cancer, an they are doing Movember..!! Which basically they all have to grow facial hair and then shave it to just leave a shaped moustache. I personally cant wait till he gets rid of it, lol, but I admire the fact it is all for a good cause. Happy birthday Babe..Mwah xx

Its also Children in Need tonight, and this is whats going on at our house.

Well I have to say, you have astounded me with the purchasing of my Collage digital downloads. They have been a MASSIVE hit..!!! The computer is nearly exploding from all the attaching and mailing...!!! Mind you Our Ems loves it, cos its a damn sight quicker than all the pretty parcel wrapping I have her doing, lmao...I have been having life with them. Is it wrong to love your own creation..?? Cos I'm sticking them on everything, lol. Last night I was running out of ink on my printer so I switched it all to black and white, and I frikkin love them. Try it yourselves... Everything on the tags are from the collage sheets, apart from one stray scrap that sneaked in. Oh and the doodling of course..

They are made especially for all of you who said, "but we don't do weird stuff, Dyan" . I don't think these are too weird, do you..???

You can find all the downloads HERE

Here's the finished journal page from the sheets.

Here's a sneak of a project in the making. Oooh is that new designs I can spy..????? I would tell you but then I would have to kill you... And if Ben asks , you know noooothink.!!! lmao.

Cool, yeah..??? The wooden sledge is about 20 in tall and all the designs are from the new downloads....See you can add journaling principles to any item, if you're adventurous...

Okay, I,m going to play (sorry, work extremely hard) some more whilst indulging myself in Ginger Nuts and back to back Wire in the Blood...

Enjoy xx

Ha ha what a hilarious class we had today. It was the Time star book and we just laughed the whole day through. Mad Michelle was on it, and she always keeps us in stitches. I cant tell you how unintentionally funny she is, but I really struggle with my bladder control. She brought me the most fabulous brooch/corsage that she made me. Forgot to take a pic of it, oops. She is knitting me some fluffy mitts next, so I suggested she had a go with my knitting needles..!!!


Bet she could crack on with them..!!!

Cant remember what was going on in this picture but it makes me laugh..

Big thank you, thank you, thank you to all those who bought my Ephemera downloads. Its always a worry when I put something new out, never sure if its only me who likes it, lol. But no it seems loads of you like them as well. Phew.

I,ve decided to have a little competition. I want you all to go purchase a download HERE and then I would like you to create a tag. Any theme, any size, any shape. You can use other things as well, but it has to include something from a sheet.

Here's some I whipped up today. Ha ha I just love this one. It's my little take on a homing pigeon ..Can you imagine if that landed on your roof..??

But the best bit is this....... yup its interactive, lol. Do you remember those dipping birds in the 70's..?????

Find unusual uses for the things on the sheet. The zanier the better.

Definitely a frog prince...

And one I,ve started but not finished...

So what are you going to come up with? Make your tag email me a pic or a link to your blog where the pic is and let the fun begin...

Enjoy xx

Woop, woop, new things to play with..!!!

Yayy, you asked, I listened, I did..!!! Oh yes I have finally played around with my artwork to give you some digital download collage sheets. They are up on the website HERE. They are to use as you wish, in your journals, atc,s, collage, cards, tags and uncle Tom Cobley an all..!!!! Once you,ve purchased them, you download them to your computer and save them for ever and ever and everer...You can then crop them, re size them, stretch them, print them, cut them, stick them. The only thing you cant do is claim it as your own, lol. Oh and please, please no emailing them between friends, respect the download fairy Karma....

This is Ephemera DL1

This is Ephemera DL2

Ephemera DL3

Ephemera DL4

Ephemera DL5

Ephemera DL6

Ephemera DL7

Don't worry if you are not sure what to do with them. I will be posting loads of examples soon for you, Send me pics or your work as well and I,ll showcase them on here.

This is what we made in to nights tag class. Spot the houses ..?? They are from Ephemera sheet

DL4. I just re sized them slightly., printed them out stuck them on to a tag and doodled over the top. Just love the traditional reindeer flying over the tops of the whimsical houses...

I will be setting a challenge any day now, using the downloads, with prizes and blue lollies up for grabs..!!!! In the meantime get over to the website and get them bought, lol.

Enjoy xx

Oh, cut n paste, cut n paste, where 4 art thou cut n paste

Ever get the feeling you,ve been had.??? I do regularly but not as much as tonight and by one of my own sons. I,m a bit brassic at the moment due to the theft of a load of cash last week and so haven't really been shopping. I know, I know its practically unheard of , but there you go,lol. Anyhow tonight, number 2 son, Our Tom, said lets go do a shop Mam, I know you haven't got any money but I have and I need to stock up. So we duly dispatched ourselves to the Supermarket where he managed to fill a large trolley, mainly with provisions for him and Maisie, with the odd thing here and there for me, and the bill was over £100, which he paid. Aww thanks Tom, I said. "No worries Mam, was the reply, you can pay me back as soon as you get paid"...!!!! ???

Many of you will know that I am, a voracious reader, and I read (like every frikkin thing I do, lol) really fast, and over the years have devoured thousands of books. So I was really interested when I found that the BBC had a list of what they considered were the top 100 books. They reckon that the average person will have read 6 on the list..??? So how will you fair..???

The ones I,ve read have got a X at the end. Tried and tried to get them in the right order to no avail. Why oh why is Blogger not allowing cut n paste anymore, cos its doing my freakin head in. I cant get content in, I cant get content out..!! Whats going on..?? Somebody put me out of my misery and explain it to me pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase, before I attempt Hari Kari with an Inktense pencil crayon. Anyhow,so we start with the last 50, lol.


51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett X
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King X
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy X
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl X
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome X
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell X
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky X
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden X
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens X
4. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough X
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton X
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding X
71 . Perfume, Patrick Süskind X
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl X
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding X
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt X
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens X
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson X
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl X
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy X
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson X
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo X
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson X
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot X
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

24 out of 50 not bad..!!!

and now the first 50

1. Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien X
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen X
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams X
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee X
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwel Xl
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis X
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë X
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller X
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë X
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks X
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier X
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame X
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens X
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott X
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres X
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy half lol...
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell X
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien X
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy X
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll X
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson X
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens X
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl X
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson X
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute X
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen X
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery X
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams X
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald half, lol
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas X
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh X
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell X
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens X
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magoriam X
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher


and 32 in the first 50, making a grand total of, drum roll please.....thats 56..!!! Wow I'm cool with that..!!!

So I,ll leave you with 2 journal papers.

Enjoy xx

Another cool workshop today, Art Journaling. They really are a lovely bunch, its not like teaching a class, more like being with a bunch of mates. The lovely Christine brought me this bar of Galaxy. Methinks I might be using that idea for Xmas pressies, lol

The lovely Liz brought me a gorgeous bunch of my favourite Lillie's, which I forgot to take a photo of, sorry.

And the lovely Olive, not only brought a chocolate cake that, apparantly, was to die for. But she had made me a little pressie, and made the box it came in. Its a gorgeously fluffy , wind round and round scarf. It has handmade beads on each end, which she assures me are double stitched on to withstand my fiddling, lol.

The lovely Susie is not that cracking at the moment but still made the effort to drive 1 1/2 to get here. Although shes not good, she looked fantastic. I had to take a photo of her because she was shock/horror...!!! wearing a skirt. Oh yes, I kid you not.. And what a gorgeous skirt it is. In fact she can be todays wardrobe remix because I want everything shes wearing...!!! And, if I keep piling weight on and she keeps losing it, then they will shortly be mine. Yayy....

I set them all a challeng in the class. First of all they had to choose an image that they thought was suitable for journaling about. The twist was the image would be used by someone else!! Thay all picked images and then we drew names out of a hat to pair up images with people. We then got cracking and it was great. They ended up with pages they probably wouldnt have contemplated, and they did some cracking work. Well done all of you. I joined in as well, and I received 4 images of Rita Hayworth. Well the word glamour instantly came to mind and so thats what I based the page on. I applied acrylic paints, laid a Tim Holtz music mask over the top and added ink, to create a masked effect.
A hand doodled checker board was applied around the edges anmd the images added. The journaling goes around the border, but I feel I muight go back and add to this later. I,m not really good with leaving space....My OCD kicks in and I have an urge to fill it with doodling, lol

And I need to show you this, that I did in the early hours of this morning..!!!I just love how it turned out, and its one of those that I wished I had immortalised it on a canvas. Never mind, I,m sure it will bring a smile to your face.

See you later chickies

Enjoy xx