Just where are...

...the weeks disappearing to?

To be honest, with all the grotty stuff that is going on at work I think I am wishing the weeks away so that the weekends can arrive more quickly...unfortunately, when time is flying it doesn't differentiate and the weekends pass just as quickly.

I really can't believe it is two weeks since I took part in my first "Rocking Your World Friday" over on Virginia's blog.
I have been 'visiting' most Fridays for quite some time but a pretty awful week prompted me to take part - why? - because the point of the exercise is to look for the positives that have been part of your week.

So with apologies to the rest of Virginia's "Rockers" for completely losing track of time (especially after they welcomed me so nicely) - here is my week...

1. Despite the grotty weather last Saturday, Barleylands was very busy - it was the Garden Show weekend and Farmer's Market. I gave the garden show a miss - for the time being it is as much as I can fit in just trying to keep things tidy (???) let alone plan any planting. The Market was quite busy with lots of lovely edible goodies - I treated myself to the most delish onion loaf mmmmmmmmmm yummy.

2. Pinnacle crafts had the super new "London Line" range and I have been playing with some of the bits during the week (when I could scrape a spare moment or two).

3. After taking Mum shopping on Sunday (she spent a small fortune on the most wonderful beads and other jewellery bits) we had a fabulous lunch at the Harvester.

4. Mum's eye appointment had come through very quickly and she attended on Monday afternoon. The consultant said the eye appeared to be healing nicely (if slowly) and he would prefer not to pursue any other form of treatment if at all possible. He arranged to see her again in 6 weeks with the hope that the healing would be complete...bit of a mixed result - great that the eye is healing - not great that it will be at least another 6 weeks before anything is done if the healing process doesn't complete on its own...very frustrating for Mum because it is limiting her vision so much.

5. Found some Yankee Candle tea-lights that I had forgotten I had...the smell whilst they were burning was beautiful.

6. Decided to take my Distress Markers and some images to work with me so that I could try and fit in a bit of colouring during my lunch break - I actually got to have a whole 30 min break without anyone disturbing me...yipeeeeee!!!

However, they say that all good things must come to an end and today has certainly been a doozy.

Just 15 mins into my train journey to work we were about to leave a station on route...the doors closed but we didn't move. We sat and waited...and waited...and waited...20 mins later the driver apologises for the delay but would let us know when he had more information...then we waited...

This particular station has 3 platforms and several passengers thinking that there might be a problem with the train decided to go and get on the train sitting on the other London bound platform...slight problem...the doors were locked - no-one could get off. No explanations, no-one telling us what was going on - the occasional tanoy saying we were being held at a red light. Lots of walking up and down the platform on the part of the driver and some of the station staff - but details as to why the train was sitting there or why the doors were locked. A few folk were starting to get a bit panicky about being shut in. A lot of folk were getting angry - especially when they diverted a following train around us.

45 mins later, the doors open and an announcement said that the train was being taken out of service and everyone needed to get off - still no explanations. A further wait for the next train and I arrived extremely late for work - not ideal when your boss is paying a visit.

Not a great start to the day and to be frank with you things didn't improve much. However, that is not the point of this post so I will end on a positive...

7. It is on days like this that I realise just how supportive some of my staff are and how much I can depend on them. Knowing that certain things need doing on a Friday they made a start for me so that everything was running smoothly when I finally arrived - they really are treasures.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering what all the delays were about...3 folk decided that they weren't going to pay for tickets and jumped on the train. This prompted a member of staff to have the train locked-down to await the police. An 8 coach train full of commuters delayed for about an hour...the cost of re-routing other services...all for 3 fare-dodgers - there has to be some logic in there somewhere...................................

Ummmmmmm...

...what happened there?

I'm still trying out my Distress Markers and thought I would try some of the colour combinations that other folk have been using. It's also the first time that I have used them on watercolouring paper.
I have to admit to a bit of a failure on the first image (the one with the pink top) - the face looks appalling.
I can assure you it actually looked much worse than this but I grabbed my AquaMarker Blender and managed to take back some of the colour. I think I made the paper too wet and didn't let colours dry before adding others...the cloths came out a bit better.
I'm far happier with this image - the skin and hair actually came out how I hoped.

I would say the biggest learning points for me with these two images have been...don't assume that all papers/card stock react in the same way; have a little patience; know when to stop adding colour - there really is a point when 'less is more'.

I really do need to remember that 'watercolouring' is very different from the technique used with Copics............................................

The Owl & the Pussy cat...

...and not a pea-green boat in sight.

Whilst I love the colour green, I'm not a fan of green cars or boats - that's just me but to my mind boats should be white & shiny with touches of red & blue so that they look great against the beautiful azure colour of the sea & sky (sadly lacking in the coastal waters around the UK LOL).

Anyhoo, I mentioned that I had actually inked up this stamp so I thought I would have a bit of a colouring session.
The pens give you an idea of the size of the image and as you can see - there is a fair bit of detail.
I'm not too sure about the owl - I think the background part of the head needs to be darker so will probably have a play around with it a bit more.
The sea came up quite well but I think when I come to use this image on a card I might add a bit of stickles or glossy accents to give it a bit of a glisten.

I really do need to have a good colouring session to build up my stock of coloured images - I have rather let them dwindle. I can see a bit more Copic usage on the way.........................................

The London Line...

...more distractions LOL

There are lots of topical ranges around at the moment - Portabello Road (Papermania), Best of British (Forever Friends/DoCrafts) and now The London Line. All these ranges are linked to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and/or the Olympics.

Having nabbed myself the 8 clear stamps, some 6x6 PPs and a pack of fancy brads...
...I did get as far as inking up one of the stamps.
Although the stamps are quite clearly very patriotic in their design they do lend themselves to a number of occasions - especially for the males in our lives.
Here is the stamp that has actually made contact with an ink pad - the owl & the pussy cat. You never know, I might even get it coloured in some time soon...LOL
I think this image is super and could so easily be adapted for New Year cards.

There are other bits in this range which I'm sure will spring into my basket at some point - a set of 3 co-ordinating bakers twines, ribbons, oh and some pre-punched bunting triangles.

Just when I decide to be good and try and use what I already have, another 'must have' arrives to tempt me - and I am soooooooooooooooooo easily tempted.................................................

Are you good or bad...

...at using magazine freebies?

Are you like me...you see a mag with a must-have freebie and you have very good intentions of getting it home and making good use of it - you get it home, you read the mag...you get side-tracked...the freebie joins the pile soon to be buried by the next arrival.

I really do start out with good intentions but I am so easily distracted or tempted by something else which is a shame because there are often really fabulous goodies for us to make use of. Recently there have been super clear stamps - Teddy Bo and Wee - beautiful stamps; so why the problem using them?

Too many goodies and not enough time is an easy excuse to come up with - it's true but one can always find a moment or two. So with that in mind I decided to make use of some of my freebies.
Papercraft Essentials was the magazine with the Wee stamps.
I have been wanting a Wee fairy image for ages so there really wasn't any excuse.
Cardmaking and Papercraft gave away a pack of luxury papers so they were pulled out and the ideal paper was found.
This is what I came up with. I didn't want the card to be too fussy or bold as I didn't want to take anything away from the image.
She really was a dear to colour.
As with all fairies there has to be a bit of bling so I added crystal ice stickles to the wings.

I used my Copics to colour the image and to edge the CS & PP - you should all know me well enough by now to realise that I never remember to note what colours I use...one day I might remember and what a shock that will be for everyone LOL

Well, I've made a start on using my freebies - how are you getting along?...............................................

Which pens...

...Copics or Distress Markers?

I've been asked a couple of times how these two pen ranges compare and really you can't compare them 'like-for-like' as they are two very different colouring systems - one is alcohol based and the other water based. All I've been able to say is how I find them to use and which colouring technique I prefer.

Copics will always be my first love and for most of my colouring these are and will be the first thing that I reach for. I love their brush tip and the way alcohol pens shade & blend.
The Ciao pens are a cheaper option to the Sketch but with 180 shades they are still a considered purchase if you want to collect all 180 (sounds like a dart score LOL). You can create your shading by 'layering' your colours - one pen can give you around 3 shades just by building up the layers or you can pick out 3 shades of a colour to colour and blend with.

Although there are some very pale shades in the Copic ranges, on the whole the colours are quite intense. I loved it when Letraset brought out their Flexmarkers as there are some lovely pale shades in the range and of course they have that fab soft brush type nib...I tend to mix & match.

With the "Tim" pens being water based they are very different to use - if you have tried using the Distress ink pads to 'watercolour' by stamping the pads onto a non-porous surface and 'picking-up' the colour with a paint brush - these pens let you put the colour straight onto the image and then using a water brush or damp paint brush you can drag the colour out and create your shading.
I have to admit, I'm not so good at this technique but these pens do make it quite easy and a lot less messy LOL So far that is really all that I've tried them for.

Being based on the Distress ink pad shades the colours have a different tone quality to them and obviously the addition of water allows you to create a really 'washed out' effect if that is what you are aiming at.

When comparing pens, the "Tim" ones are probably closest to the Aquamarkers for technique but have the lovely brush tip rather than a Letraset bullit tip.

Waterbased pens tend to take up less space as you don't need so many shades - a bit of water will do the shading for you. At the moment there are 36 shades plus the white Picket Fence - but as we all know, there are now more shades in the distress range so I'm sure it is only a matter of time before these are added to the pen range.

If I was starting again, I would probably give the Promarkers & the Aquamarkers a miss as I really don't get on well with the nib. That said; I have to admit that if I take 'pens' to a crop or class it will normally be these as I'm a lot less 'precious' about sharing these ones.

For alcohol based pens I use both Copic & Flexmarkers and for water based ones I will stick with the "Tim" ones.

Pricewise, they are a very similar price per pen and can be bought as individuals if you just want to try a few to see how you get on. It is easiler to build up your collection this way too if the thought of one large purchase is out of your reach - we are all watching the pennies at the moment.

So really, when you are looking at pens the first thing you need to do is decide the sort of technique you want to use and what sort of finished effect you want to achieve. If you are not sure, I would always advise anyone to try and find a way of 'having a go' with them...do you have friends that would let you have a 'play' or do you have a local retailer who offers classes where you can try to see if this is really for you.

If you do try and find you like - be warned - colouring is very addictive and you may find that you just have to build up your collection of stamps and digi images so that you can make good use of your new pens.......................................

This chilly weather...

...has had me clicking the old knitting needles again.

Over the course of the Jubilee weekend I managed to polish off these...
...3 completed and a 4th on the way.
This is a new style yarn for me - more expensive than the others but I fell in love with the finish. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a pig to knit with. I will keep going (although it could take me a while) as the effect created once it is knitted is so pretty...much more delicate to look at than the other yarns I have used.
This is a bit fuzzy (poor light) but it shows the pretty new shades that I picked up on Saturday.
The black/red/peach wasn't very nice to knit with bit the finished item looks great.

Who would have thought...we're into June and I'm still knitting scarves LOL...............................................