May Day, May Day!

First of all sorry about last week, technical hitch, but all seems to be running fine today. Everything is going very well, if a little crazy. This year is going so quick..., June in five minutes.
New studio is just fabulous, I am so blessed,

Desk is in uses now.

I have also been getting quite a bit of work done,

These are the start of some Christmas prims!

After some paint and a spot of cooking

I wanted to create some more journals.This one is part painted and part stitched.

Made into a journal, with some other stitched books.

With June fast approaching I wanted to remember Emily Wilding Davison. She was the Suffragette who threw herself under the Kings horse at the Epsom races June the 4th 1913, she died four days later.

Image transfer onto fabric.

Add embellishments

A lovely picture of |Emily

At the moment I am doing yet more prims,

Witchy boots!

Spiders..., truly!

Dolls, dolls and more dolls!

 That's it for today folks. xxxxxx

Feeling a little under pressure.......,!

Seems to me that no sooner have I posted for one week then the next week arrives in seconds, and I am getting nothing done. This I know to be rubbish, but it is how I am feeling at the moment. I knew 2013 was going to be a busy year, but boy!!! I just wish I could get more art work done. What I have learnt over the years is to have faith, not necessarily with any heavenly bodies, but in me, and I have never let me down yet. As you can imagine the studio is taking up a lot of time. And it is for all sorts of little niggly things that you don't really see individually but they count as a whole....., I WILL get there. One thing I have done this week in the new studio is start to move stuff in, particualy into the wonderful set of draws I was given a couple of years ago,

I cleaned years of labels and stickers from the front, which I did save for a collage piece I want to make, polished  just need to make thirty draw labels now!

It's amazing when you see the things you had forgotten about.

Delicious. 

Also I have started painting the "French Desk". No idea why we started to call it that, but that is it's name now.

Still not finished building it, but it had to have it's first coat of blue on it's edges.

First coat of white!

Car boot sales have been both fabulous and some what knackering! But what finds...,

This is a 1899, Excelsior Wall Paper sample book, which some well to do child has then used as a scrap book.

Over a hundred pages of clippings from magazines of the day.

....and samples of wall paper.

Plus adverts from that time, what a joy. I paid £25 for this book which I shall ( research ...one day) copy and use in collage and collage kits for my students.

Speaking of collage, did you like the link there? I told you last week that I was taking part in a world wide ephemera swap, well the first one came back,

Yummy, I shall give you a more in depth look some other time.

Art work...,

Added signatures and bound books.

A3 copy paper used for signatures.

Now any one who knows me and who reads my weekly ramblings will know I am a happy person, not inclined to take a fence easily, here comes the however, What has happened to manners? Common courtesy  At the car boot, four, now I am not sexist, but, men cough on me. No attempt was made to cover their mouths or indeed an apology at what they had done. And now I have a cold, what a shock that is. Speaking as someone who has worked with children for decades I KNOW that the youngest of children learn, if encouraged to perform this simple task. And as for sniffing, and spitting in the street, don't get me started! I love you all, but don't forget cough and sneezes spread diseases.

This is on the back of  my toilet door.

This year is going too fast!

Hello there, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend spent doing the things you love, with the people you love. I am very privileged to say I did both. Knavesmire Car Boots are back in town and the weather was OK so off to a field of junk we went. I do have a mental note of the things I am looking for. This week it was draws for the french Gothic monolith desk Andrew is building for me, and lots of ephemera for me, as well as for a very BIG ephemera swap I am involved with. Hadn't got two feet into the field when I found two wonderful "chum" books which I bought off the delightful Robin. Not far past them then it was yet another large book, going well it was in this vine that the morning continued  first trip back to the van with treasures,  just get back into the field and I stop! Draws! They had come off a desk at some point in history and then been stacked and joined together. Now we, by that I mean the royal we..., Andrew need to separate them!

Andrew, a tad vexed at first.

Sorry about this picture, but we were both giggling rather too much at this point!

Time for the magic...

Ta dar, two draws!

It start!

As to other finds at the car boot,

I love children's large jigsaw pieces for art.

So delicious!

Trust me , that isn't Loo roll!

Yet more work has taken place in the new studio. Andrew has been very busy making shelves for me, and of course my new desk to start, not to mention a table for the A3 copier. He is such a good boy.

And I was a good girl, and polished up the set of draws I was given,

I always collect ephemera, but this week I was on the look out for more, as I had joined a one off swap via Life book. The idea was that the participants would collect 100 pieces of paper goods for 10 people, therefore 1000 piece and post them off around the world. I love doing things like this. Postage can be a bit scary, but it is worth it if you can do it. Having complied this swap, I think it should have been a little smaller, but great fun never the less. So my packets contained, pages from old books, dictionaries  maps, playing cards, bingo sheets stamps game pieces, toy money tarot cards all sorts of thing. I already make smaller ephemera and collage kits for my student, which I really enjoy doing so it was no problem.  Well they have all been sent off, I will let you know what comes back. It will be like Christmas in the middle of the year..., hopefully!

Packages of paper goodies to go round the world.

Art wise I have done some things, but mainly it has been getting the new studio up to scratch.

Face for book cover.

Add back ground

Another face.

I always like to photocopy  work before starting the back ground.

Faces are stitched to water colour paper and decorated.

Just need to make the signatures for them and stitched them in. Need to get these finished as the seem to have been hanging around along time, and I hate that. I like to get things moving and keep it that way.
See you next week.

White Rabbits

Hello you little sweet potatoes, how are you on this glorious May morning. xxxxxxx. I am spiffing and feeling like I may actually recovered from Andrews open studio. We are at the post Open Studio do tonight so that should prove interesting. I will keep you informed my little moonbeams. Life is still as crazy as ever here at Area 61,  so what have I been up to since we last chatted? Well there was Alice's 22nd birthday bash, which though I say so myself was a huge success.

I used the new, if some what bare,  studio for the venue .

Unfortunately Andrew and I had to drink several bottles of wine to make those bespoke candle sticks, but  one has to suffer for ones art!

Lots of gorgeous peeps.

Yet another gorgeous person, having a Grandpa moment, me thinks.

Giggling and agostering girlies, marvelous

My Babies, and a somewhat deranged Aunty Suz!

Happy people, The sensational Seekr, or The Latvain Postman as we like to call him, who so righly states, "Vhat is vrong vith, wampire veekend"?

Art wise I have been a good girl and got back into the studio. Not got a huge amount done, but it is a start.
Mermaid circus with Teesha Moore and Jane Davenport, which I had to put on hold is now flowing out of me,

Face painting on canvas.

This is going to be a journal cover.

Cover for Mermaid Circus.

Back Cover

Mermew!

OK folks I am going to have to leave it there for today as life has taken over and I have to dash. Have a wonderful week. x