Yesterday was .....

.... the day I managed to tick another thing off my mental list of things I'd like to achieve (before I leave this world lol). Yes! at long last I got around to learning to drive and yesterday I passed my test. I never thought I would be driving around Aberdeen but there you go, I have achieved it and I'm so pleased with myself..... *going around doing silly little happy dances with a big cheesey grin on my face* .... Just to get insurance arranged on the car and me and the dogs will be out and about..... no stopping us now :-)
Not much art or craft been going on here but all my plans are slowly coming together now and my Etsy Shop will be opened soon.
Still trying to clear out some of my craft stash as there is so much I have not used in the last year and don't think I will use so these thing are getting listed on Ebay. If your looking for a crafty bargain pop over to http://bit.ly/qGV6Vj . I should really stay off Ebay as I keep seeing things I want to buy, I'm watching some fabric at the moment that would make lovely cushion covers :) not that theres anything wrong with the cushion covers I have, but this fabric is nice. Then theres the fabric that would make lovely curtains.....no more looking on Ebay for me just now, even though I need to make a start on a complete make over of this house as I would like some of it done before Christmas
My head is just bursting with ideas at the moment, but I just seem to have enough time to do everything, I really must try and get more organised. Right I'm away to write a list of everything I must do, this one will be on paper not just a mental one :)

Busy busy.....

....so very busy! I feel like I haven't stopped over the last couple of weeks, I am really trying to get everything tidy and organised. Don't think I'm trying hard enough though as I'm still working in organised clutter. Since moving here there have been quite afew of my craft supplies that I have not used and don't think I'm going to so I have been listing a lot of these on Ebay and there are still plenty more to be listed. If your interested in bagging a bargain pop over to http://bit.ly/qGV6Vj .

I've also decided to open a shop on Etsy and try to sell some of my creations. I tried to think up a new name for my shop but everything I came up with that I liked, there was already a design company called that, so for now I will still be going under the name of Ainjewelz. I have been busy designing some digital download printables, which I have had so much fun with and once I have sorted out my T&C's these will be uploaded to my Etsy shop along with some other creations of mine. My head is full of so many ideas at the moment so hopefully I will manage my time better so I can get creating.

I am trying to always have my sketchbook with me and I'm forever jotting down notes, quick sketches and doodling. It seems to be paying off as my faces are getting a little better and I'm trying to be looser with my pencil strokes. Anyway the sketch below was done yesterday morning when I woke up while still in my bed, just a quick couple of minutes sketch and I am quite pleased with it. So different from my usual faces :-)

Well that is all for now, better get a bit of housework done and dinner cooked 'cause I've just rememered I've registered for a webinar this evening on drawing.

I have been.....

.... making a few changes in my blog layout and now realise I could do with a new banner heading. So this will be added to the long list of things I need to do. I have so many ideas going around in my head and so many creative projects that I've started, I need to try and concentrate on one thing at a time and get it finished. there just never seems to be enough hours in the day for me to get round to doing everything though.

I have managed to finish off a mixed media canvas called 'She thought about Archie'.

I hope to be blogging again very soon but I'm off now to create a new title bannerfor my blog :-)

Creativity has certainly....

...been flowing over the last couple of days. I managed to complete a few Art Journal pages, below we have Choices, Don't let your Fears..., Oodles of Doodles and Summer Drinks with the Girls.I'm feeling creative today so once all the boring housework etc is done I'm hoping to get down to some painting.

So many ideas in my head and just not enough time to get round to doing them all.......

This summer....

...... weather is about the worst I can remember! I know I live in Scotland but does it have to rain quite so much, just a couple of weeks with some sun would be great and cheer everyone up. This morning when I looked out my front door the Hill of Fare was peeking above the clouds that were trapped in the valley. So out came the camera and while eating my breakfast I had a wee play in Photoshop. The first image is the original photo but cropped to remove a electricity pylon and then the electicity cables that went across it were removed using the clone tool......Electric pylons and cables are the only things that spoil my view from my front door! Oh and the rain!!! I can't see any of the other hills that are in the distance today.
I then played about with colour in Photoshop
and then I gave the image a vintage look using an action which was a free download from here

The rain is just not letting up today and my view is slowly dissapearing in the mist, I can no longer see the Hill of Fare, just the field on the other side of the fence. I also now have the wood burning stove lit as the house feels cold and damp.........is this really summer?
Craft room is warming up now so its time to get creative, what will I get up to today?

Rain rain go away...

.... come again another day!

Today is another one of those rainy Scottish summer days that we are getting so many of, it would be nice to maybe have a couple of days of sun and we live in hope these will appear soon. Between showers I went for a wander around the garden with the dogs and my camera and captured a few of the rain drops.

I came across this.....

collage making program while I was looking for something else this morning. You can download the free version from Shape Collage and it does stuff like this :-)
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day so we went for a wee trip up to Portsoy, another place I have not been for years. We popped in to see an old friend of Frankies in his amazing antique shop full of chandeliers, grandfather clocks and large pieces of old furniture, all far too big for our higgildy piggildy hobit house. I could of stayed in there for hours rummaging about the place. We sat at the habour watching a mother duck and her 7 chicks swimmimg about, which I thought was a strange thing to see in a harbour, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Below is a collage of a few snaps I took while at Portsoy

At last.....

....I've got round to updating my blog again. Its been a few months since I was last here and quite a lot has been happening, far too much for me remember but a few thing are;

We went to see Rush in Glasgow and they were absolutely amazing, just as good if not even better than they were when I last saw them in 1979. Geddy Lee still jumps about the stage like he did 30 years ago and his voice still has that magic that mesmerized me as a teenager. Neil Peart's drum solo was out of this world and the guitar playing was loaud and awesome. We had a brilliant weekend and an evening with Rush and Rush fans that we will never forget.

On the way home from Glasgow we took a different road than usual and went over the Cairn O' Mount where I found the old ruined cottage that I had been talking about a few weeks earlier and saying how I had happy memories of it and my kids but had no idea where it was. We went round a bend in the lane and there it was with the wee river running in front of it, so we had to stop and take some photos in the rain. We have been back to see it again on a beautiful sunny day, I feel drawn towards this place, I wish I knew its story. I have done a wee bit of research and now know it is called Spittalburn Cottage and through the census I know who lived in it for a while. When I have more time I will research further. I have also been getting creative again and a few journal pages are below


The next page was a promt from Milliande Art Commuinty for Women to create a page inspired by Teesha Moore, I just love her style and really enjoyed creating this page.

The next page didn't turn out as good as I imagined it, a free bookmark that came with my Pedlars catalogue got me started on this.


I was practising faces again but all my faces seem to look the same, just have to keep practising. When I finished this I thought it looked quite sad, but then I was feeling sad as I created it as I was missing my family in Fife.

I have been to Fife to visit my family for a weekend, but a weekend is just not long enough. It was quite an adventure as I travelled by train, something I have not done for years. I'm hoping to get to visit them all again very soon and I'm looking forward to the train journey. To finish of I will leave you with my favourite photo of my grandaughter, who is growing up so fast. I can't wait till my next visit to see all my grandchildren.

One day I might surprise myself and be a better and more frequent blogger, right I'm off now to walk the dogs........

I have 5.....

....Art Journal pages on the go at the moment. They are all at different stages but none are complete yet, I have completed one though and this is called True Strength. The quote says "True strength is keeping everything together when everyone expects you to fall apart." My favourite colour, purple, seems to have made another appearance on this page, I really try not to use purple so much but it just seems to appear whenever I am getting creative. I've had my brother and his wife staying for a couple of days so creativity has been neglected as I had to clear my table so we had somewhere to sit and eat dinner. Visitors have gone now and my table looks uncreatively empty at the moment, but it won't take me long to get paper, glue, paints and inks out again and have it so cluttered the top won't be visible again :-)

I can't believe my Tutorial~How to make a neverending card, has had over 4500 views on Youtube. This was the first tutorial I ever filmed and I'm thinking about making a few more films

My Art Journal is...

.... starting to get full of creativity. I still don't seem to find time to do a page every day, I wish I could, but the time I spend creating pages is a great way to experiment with different media and techniques. The first 2 pages were created using prompts from Milliande Art Community for Women ........... Singing in the Rain and Spring

The Liberty page evolved from an image torn from a magazine advertisement and just anything that was laying on my work table.

I have also started a painting a canvas, not going quite to plan but with a bit more work when I'm in the right frame of mind and it should work out ok. I might then post an image here.

Today my horoscope says ....

"Weird ideas are exploding in your brain and it's challenging to figure out what to do today. You want to take each idea and run with it, but you cannot possibly finish what you initiate. Be careful, for you could start enough projects to keep you busy for a very long time. However, don't stress if you still have lots of loose ends by the end of the day. It will be easy enough to clean up everything over the next few weeks during Mercury's retrograde."

....this is so true! My brain is actually ready to burst, I just don't know where to start! I have got so many ideas and plans, but there is so much everyday life stuff thats needs to get done before creativity can begin. So I'm off to get the boring stuff out the way before I can play........