Fully Charged and Ready to Go...

The camera that is, I'm not sure the same can be said for me.


Anyway here, better late than never, is my February challenge page complete with journalling. I'm feeling very smug this morning because I've already filled in today's square in March too.

And now I'm wired to the camera to transfer this picture I've got some more fab ATCs to share. The first two are ones I got by swapping at the Artisan Show last year.

This one is by Helen Chilton of Craft Stamper fame. I love the way she uses colour and birds are a favoutire of mine so I had to have this. The punched edge is great too. I now know I don't need to throw out the pages I've not lined up properly in the Bind It All machine.

This one is by L. Abery and is one of my all time favourites. Again I'm drawn to the colours but I also love that this is so beautifully put together with neat colouring and cutting (which I can't do, messy is my middle name).

The next sets of pictures are ATCs made for a swap where each player used a stamp of their choice, then sent it to the next player and so on. By the end we had each made four ATCs with each stamp to distribute so we each had a set made with each stamp. Confused?

The lovely players who participated with me were Pauline Hampson, Annie Mackay and Mawgan Dipple. My stamp was the heart one. I think it might have been a gift as it isn't what I'd generally choose but the observant amongst you might have noticed that it had a second outing on my February challenge page.

Best Laid Plans...

I have now memorised how to transfer piccies from the camera to computer without searching for and reading the manual so I was all ready to photograph my February page for The Kathryn Wheel 365 day challenge but... the battery in my camera is flat!

Meantime, here is a preview of March (you'll recall I had done backgrounds to August in January as a journalling delay tactic). Now I see it afresh it is a bit grey looking, a reflection of the dull mood I was in at the start of January in the dark, snowy, cold days. I might use bright colours for the lettering to jazz it up a bit or maybe a bit more silvery bling and some images bottom right - it sure needs something!

Here also is an ATC I made as part of a batch for swapping at the Artisan show last autumn. I made sheets of Distress Ink backgrounds to cut up and mount as the base for the cards. The image is from a Crafty Individuals book.

Current score for this year: Technology 2 Kate 0

Oh, and so many other little lessons learned...

Here at last is a picture of my 365 day challenge January page.




I chose what I thought was an excellent book from The PaperMill Shop for the challenge. It is A3 size with sturdy covers and quite thick pages, all spiral bound. How wrong I was!


Firstly, unless you have a physique like Naomi Campbell (very, very tall and long limbed and with no tummy) you can't work at the top of the page without getting a line of paint across the midriff and bits of jumper stuck in your work. I suppose those long pincer like tools on a long handle that rubbish collectors use might be a solution but the quality of work would be compromised.


Secondly, because the covers are completely blank I managed to start work upside down at the back of the book so it was really fiddly to open and close. If you check out the wire on a spiral bound you'll see what I mean. I was three backgrounds in before I discovered this and ended up having to take off the covers, take out all the pages and rebuild the book - hence the slightly lopside look it now has.


Thirdly, the size of the pages is just so big that none of my alphabet stamps comes near to the right scale for adding the months and it is very difficult (for me) to photograph such large pages. I must learn to think things through properly.


I knew doing the journalling was going to be difficult for me which is why I joined the challenge in the first place. I spent most of January slapping paint on backgrounds and cutting about 400 (well you need some spare in case..) 2" squares from all my part used sheets of patterned paper - I've got backgrounds upto August started already! I think I've just reached the point where I can accept that actually it doesn't matter to me - and certainly doesn't to anyone else - how mundane and repetitive activities and record of daily life is so I'm finding it a bit easier to get on with now.


I'm sure there are more embellishments to add before the page is finished but at least I've done the challenging bit.

And don't get me started on technology again. I'm using a morning off work to get out the camera manual, transfer the pictures and try to get them in the right place in this post as it's the only chance to have a long enough go on the computer.

On the upside, here's a peek at what Februry looks like so far.

Twelve Days of Christmas

I think all participants in the 12 days of Christmas swap have opened their presents by now (those impatient ones amongst us did start early and finish on Christmas eve) so it won't spoil the surprise if I now share the fantastic work of my fellow swappers....

However I'm now teetering on the edge - and likely to throw a Pete Townsend type fit and chuck the laptop through the window - I'm so frustrated with my inability to get pictures to go where I want them in blogger! If anyone out there has any advice please do help.

For now I'm going to post with the pictures all over the place because I do want to share the wonderful creative gifts I received from clever artists.

On the first day Liz sent me a fabulous miniature book. It was wrapped as a teeny, tiny snowman and I couldn't resist starting with this one.

On the second day I opened and intriguing squishy parcel from Claudia and found an endearing little creature within.

And on day three Adrienne's parcel revealed some beautiful wearable art in some of my favourite colours - with apologies for the terrible photography capabilities in close up!


The fourth day brought Lyn's gift of a little memory album. The neatest, tidiest work ever and immaculately presented with credit for the original idea. I wish I could work so precisely.

On the fifth day I opened the present from Trish and found two gifts - a bookmark and this calendar which I think may go to work with me.

On day six I opened Annie's gift. As well as having an interesting textured lid, this box has a marvellous embroidered lining and it contained some chocolates too - but not amymore!

My surprise on day seven was a circular mini book from Elizabeth which she had cleverly wrapped by folding the paper origami style to create an envelope.

Day eight brought a dear little Christmas house from Mawgan and on day nine I opened Pauline C's gorgeous butterfly themed book of tags.




Nearly there now..... Day ten brought this watch with wow factor from Pauline H. I think the strap is made from grunge paper decorated with lovely pearlescent paints. She had wrapped this in an organza bag in lilac (another fav of mine) which she had stamped all over with a swirl design.

Day eleven's surprise was another useful item - one for the shelf by the phone - a post it note book. Yummy lilac and turquoise again with a friendly plastic butterfly embellishment courtesy of Wendy.

And finally (how lucky am I? this was all in the run up to Christmas eve) more wearable art in the form of a delicate pendant presented in a tiny decorated box from Annie.

Thanks again to all those talented artists who so generously share their knowhow and their work at UKArtswaps.

I'll leave this post with pictures of the gifts I sent. I'm off to the home for the technologically challenged now.