Wednesday, January 17, 2007

art journal

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you check out Emily's art journal challenge- a WHOLE YEAR! And I'm so gonna do it!
Here is my week one and two, and as I got 'spare' cards in my deck, and just happened to find this rub on quote complete with paint splatters I though I would do a cover/intro card, just to remind me of why I am doing this journal, and making changes in my life for the better, a kind of physical version of positiveness :)

the cover/intro card-



week ones prompt was 'was makes you proud?'
I painted the card, added crackle glaze, then rubbed
gold paint on top, wiped the excess off then added
lettering and a stamp.


week twos prompt was 'what is powerful
to you?' To me, love, in all its various guises
is powerful. So after painting this card, masking
a heart off and overpainting (though the colour looks
awful in the scan) I added the 'love' sticker to the
heart and journaled 'if I have love in my heart I can
achieve anything' added a bit of doodling, and scratched
some hearts into the paint et voila.
The bonus being that my little studio is all packed up right now so I am creating using whatever scrappy bits I can find! This is the only way I am getting to craft right now! I managed to find an old cigar box, and have painted that ready for my cards to sit in. I am planning on punching holes in the cards and hanging them on a bookring too so they are all in order!
TTFN blogettes -x-

Monday, January 15, 2007

the most WONDERFUL news...



Last night I received the following email...

"Dear Wild Bird Supporter,Over the last two years, you were kind enough to lend your name to an impressive group effort to get the EU to stop importing millions of wild birds.As of January 11, 2007, I'm delighted to inform you that the EU has decided to do exactly that -- all wild bird imports have been banned permanently. The temporary ban on all live bird imports has been extended until June 2007, and the new regulation takes effect on 1 July 2007. Read more about the ban on our website at: http://worldparrottrust.org/.I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your enthusiastic support of this effort and hope you and your organizations feel proud to have been part of making this momentous decision possible.This ban will spare about four million wild birds a year... forever! Take a moment to picture a flock of four million birds and think of them flying free! Working together, we've all made this a reality.Happy New Year, indeed!Sincerely,James D. Gilardi, Ph.D., DirectorThe World Parrot Trust Glanmor HouseHayle, Cornwall, TR27 4HB "

I have actively supported this cause, and this new ruling is THE BEST NEWS! THANK YOU TONY BLAIR! (never thought I would hear myself say that but i am so so truly grateful to him for his backing).
Bird exportation/importation is a very cruel and barbaric practise.
And before they even get to the stage where they are packed tight in mini cages with no room to move, defecate and even breathe properly (with no food or water), some of these poor creatures have been through the most horrific process.

Take baby african greys for example (this is the same species as simba). They are taken from their nests, way too young for a lot of them to cope without being fed by Mummy, not weaned at all. The poacher then opens the baby birds wings.
and stamps on them so they can't fly away.
Brutal enough yes?

Then bear in mind that some of those feathers may not be properly developed yet. These are called 'blood feathers', and it is like a vein running through the inside of the feather. That baby bird who has managed not to die yet from stress, fright etc can then bleed to death.

If these poor birds have made it to this stage, they are bundled into cages with no room to move- interesting fact here to tie in with this- in the UK it is ILLEGAL for a bird to be housed in a cage that does not allow it to fully open its wing span and totally move around in every direction.
But it is deemed as acceptable to these beasts to cram them in a cage where they can't even breathe properly. All for a measly bit of money.

Ok, so the above is usually the worst case scenario, and generally the illegal importation trade- but having these new rulings means this will be enforced more harshly. No birds coming in, and therefore these shipments of birds will be caught.

At this stage I would like to point out that Simba is 100% British bred in captivity (and lives the life of riley!). We now have more than enough captive birds to breed from in this country, and all of Europe, so really, there is absolutely no reason for any imports, a fact which I am sure will have helped with this ruling. Many species of bird face extinction, largely due to these practises.

As you all know (and if you don't you must have been looking on here with your eyes shut lol) parrots are a topic that I am hugely passionate about. I HATE people who buy a bird without learning about the HUGE commitment they are taking on, and subsequently get rid of the bird, for it to be passed on and on...then it ends up in a very over run sanctuary- this isn't like animal shelters at all, we have hardly any parrot sanctuarys, partly because parrot keeping is so specialised and requires a lot of specific knowledge. the fact that parrots are like little toddlers all of their life. they require an awful lot of work and dedication. and for that, to the people who selflessly open and run these places (usually out of their own money) I am so very thankful. It is these people who have to deal with the wild imports that have been taken on as a pet, and then discarded. Hopefully this move will mean that less birds will be dumped :D

If you got this far- thn thank you! I am so happy I wanna shout this from the rooftops!! lol

Friday, January 12, 2007

Book of love...

Nowt really exciting going on, so thought I would finally show the book I made at our workshop with Emily (huge congrats on your news btw!)- now it does have a few bits to be added to it (I pick it up and add to it when I am in the mood and have nothing else I am *meant* to be doing) and a couple of pages I want to completely redo, but this is how the book is right now, hung on my studio wall. There are loads of pics!

Front cover- large photo overlaid with acetate and pretty stuff!

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Family pages- me and my mummy bear...
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and my lubberly nan

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jasmine making a wish on a 'fairy'

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pretty pink flowers- mmmm- this page is really cool, made with masking tape and paint

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new shoes and french pedicures
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two more god-daughters

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my jessicat- this is one page I am redoing

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simbadoodle, also redoing this page, I did this one and the 'jess' one at the same time, I must have been in an odd mood I have decided!

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Simba's mad tomfoolery
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photo collage of lots of things that I love- rubbed over with white paint
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friendship page- my best friend with simba, who adores her!

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Simba's toes- I adore his toes so much lol! This was done onto acetate- hence the shiny bit!
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last, but by no means least- this page is all about my simbadoodly and just how much I adore him. I know you all think I am stark raving- and maybe there is a slight bit of truth in that, but he is my companion and lifelong friend :)

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Friday, January 05, 2007

doin' it digi stylee



Yup I lost my digi virginity!


I totally blame Katie fancy knickers (that is what she really likes to be known as!), and Yizz too- who has been on our case for an age!


For those who didn't see it, Kate wrote a fab series of articles for creative scrapbooking mag, and the best part was I UNDERSTOOD EVERY WORD! So, yesterday I bit the proverbial bullet and did my first digi lo! It is a thank you for the articles (even though the bumholio's are ceasing CS mag)


It is a Jen Caputo sketch, and Anne Langpap papers



A huge thanks girls- I really mean it! I know this is a bit of a 'cheat' but it meant I got to grips with the basic functions of digi scrapping!


So- today! You guessed it- another digi layout. Kate gave me a couple of fab pointers today (like increasing the memory allocation for PS CS) which made things way easier, but it is still very slow going- I think a laptop is necessary for this with a stonking huge memory and fancy pants processor. (do you get the idea I really have no idea what I am talking about!?)

So this layout was done from scratch, no sketch to help! *yeeks*

Kit from shabby princess which I found on my poot- I am very good at downloading kits- least now I know how to use them! Very simple- like most of my paper layouts, but other than the pic- I really like it! Just trying to use random 'me' pics from crimbo- that way I don't offend anyone by doing a cacky lo with them in it! mwahaha

I even added drop shadows, although I think I need to learn how to faff them up next, I reckon the shadow line is a bit harsh (admittedly that is more noticable viewing in a larger size)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

back again!



I am well aware at just how lucky I have been! The shingles haven't been half as bad as I thought they were going to be. I have seen people so very ill with them- and I really thought I would be as bad.


But I wasn't.


Thank the Lord!


Feeling much better already- totally exhausted still, very itchy still, but the blisters are healing really well- feel a bit fluey, and a bit of pain but nothing drastic- but other than that- fine!


My niece, nephew and sis-in-law all have it- and possibly my brother, so they are all quaratined at their house!




So- Christmas was ok- bit stressful for reasons I shan't go into here, but I survived it! I got lots of yummy pressies, will take some pics of my new dress forms- this is becoming a serious obsession yannow!


And of course, I got my new hat- and just for anna, I have pics! Not the original hat I said I would photograph- but my new purty one I had for crimbly day! (with matching scarf!)-and a big pouty crimbly kiss too!








Had mucho fun playing limbo with the kids on christmas evening.

when I say playing, what I mean is, I watched them, took pics, and laughed at them.

A lot!

It is seriously cool- it plays music, and if you knock the bar- it tells you so! In a wonderfully fake Jamaican accent! ROFL!


The calendar I made for Mum was a hit- she really loved it- will get some pics of that- I was finishing it off at silly o'clock christmas eve so didn't have time before wrapping it!
Oh and I did get one of my God daughters to do a lovely christmas message for you all, but ran out of time and it didn't get uploaded- so a very belated christmas message for you- I have to upload it cos its so darn cute! Sadly as with all the vids I upload it is out of sync- but still cute!