are you flowin'?

Happy luuuurrrvvvve day everybody

2012-02-14T02:21:00.002Z

Valentines Day card for the best boyfriend in the world ever. ever.

Rocking Your World Friday - week 6

2012-02-10T10:36:00.000Z

You know every week with these posts, I have to fight the urge to embed the video to the most annoying song in the world…

But hey everybody, it’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday! :)

Everybody lookin’ forward to the weekend??

OK, OK, I’ll stop :)

So – what’s been happening over the last week that’s shout-out worthy?

On Saturday, we collected my youngest’s brand new phone, and he is over the moon with it! It’s not only the fact he has a nice new gadget, but the extra freedom it brings him. I’m now much happier letting him go a bit further afield to knock for a school friend in the afternoon or at the weekends, knowing that he can call me if he has a problem, or that I can call him if I want him to come home, or just want to know where he is. So he’s happy playing with his pals, and I get a bit more time to myself without a bored child underfoot. I’d call that a win win, and well worth the £7.50 monthly fee!

Later the same day I had my photographer’s hat back on as the roller derby team I take photos for – the Swindon Rail Road Rebels – had another closed bout. This was their last “friendly” game before their first public bout next month. And also the first at a new venue, so I wanted to get as many practice shots as possible to make sure that I can get some really good pics next time.

The really great thing about the new venue is the bright blue floor, which along with my team’s red kit and the visitors’ yellow kit, made for some very primary-colourful photos :) I really enjoyed watching the action again, and can’t wait for the public bout so I can drag my family along too and show them how great it is!

I emerged from the roller derby to find that while I was indoors, the white stuff had fallen, yay! Not much snow, but enough to amuse the kiddies. Sadly it was all gone by Monday so I couldn’t use it as an excuse not to go to work ;) I forgot to take a photo to record our momentous ¼ of an inch snowfall, so here’s a pic somebody else took of my local Chinese restaurant on Saturday instead:

On Sunday Jay had to go home early (boo!) as Reece had a party to go to, and Connor was out playing with his school friends all afternoon, so I had some rather unexpected “me” time. I was a bit lost at first, not used to it! But in the end I whacked the Kerrang! Channel on loud on the TV, and sat down and worked on a circle journal entry – started and finished in one sitting which is almost unheard of! And with that last CJ page done I am now completely up to date with my crafting commitments, and have NO pressing deadlines for the first time in forever. Such a lovely feeling :)

Accordingly, on Monday night I didn’t even go NEAR my making-stuff table. Much as I do enjoy my creative pursuits, it was fab to have a guilt free night off, doing nothing but browsing the net looking at holiday cottages, and watching trashy TV (Ru Paul’s Drag Race, trust me, telly doesn’t come any trashier than that, but I love it :D)

Earlier on Monday, two rather cool things happened. Firstly, I got an email from the Moleskine company to say that they wanted to use a photo of my 2011 art journal on their "Me and My Moleskine" page :

And not only did I get the bragging rights of being on the website, but also I got to choose a Moleskine journal as a prize - yay!

I went for the pocket-sized watercolour journal, which turned up the very next day:

And secondly - you may have seen me mention the Artistic Licence circle journal I'm currently a part of. The way this circle works is that each participant has designed a book based upon a specified artist, and as the books travel round, we each do a page in each book in the style of the that artist.

Well, back in early December last year, I was working on Lou's book, and her artist was Nikki Monaghan. This was my "Monaghan inspired" entry:

and I blogged about it here.

Well if you look at the bottom of that blog entry, you'll see a new comment, left by the actual artist lady herself :)

I was really chuffed that she took the time to comment (and relieved that she didn't hate what I had done lol)

After all that excitement, the rest of my week has been fairly quiet - work, home, play with paints and stuff, read, sleep, that kind of thing - but perfectly pleasant.

Oh and we woke up to the perfect amount of snow this morning - just enough to play snowballs and make everything look pretty, but not enough to disrupt the roads and shut the schools :)

I hope that the rest of the Rockettes have also had nice weeks - I'm off to chief Rockette Virginia's blog to find out!

Would you believe 'The Birds' will be 50 years old next year?

2012-02-06T00:44:00.000Z

Hitchcock's The Birds, still an amazing film and as scary as ever - and it's also the inspiration for my latest circle journal entry.

This was a fun book to work in - it's in the Project Runway circle, and takes its inspiration from the show's film genre challenge.

Each participant selects a sealed envelope containing a card with a particular film genre printed on it - previous players have already tackled Western, Comedy, Romance, Film Noir, Musical, and the one I really wanted, Horror. But I got Thriller, which would have been my tie second choice along with sci-fi, so I was happy with that.

And then our task was to incorporate a dress form into our page, showing the costume for our lead character.

My leading lady is immaculately turned out, but showing some signs of vicious pecking! :)

The background for this page uses watercolours for the stormy sky, a Crafters Workshop stencil for the trees, and the birds are all drawn by hand.

The back of our page is our sign in area , and we were to incorporate the card we drew from the envelopes, showing our chosen genre:

The background for this side is spray painted, and the bird was cut out from some handmade paper with flower petal inclusions.

This book is due to go in the post tomorrow (oops, I've just seen the time, make that today!), so I finished it just in time.

PS. this is possibly the only Barbie doll I could be persuaded to own:

isn't it wonderful? I especially love the bird pecking away at her forehead :)

Rocking Your World Friday - week 5

2012-02-03T22:49:00.000Z

And it's Friday again. For once I'm not going to say "wow, that came around fast", because this week has been a looooong one. One of those weeks, if you know the sort.

But we're here to talk about the positives, not the negatives, and there have been many good points to the week too :)

First of all, last Friday, after writing up last week's Rockin' post, it was lovely and sunny so I went out geocaching in my lunchbreak. I didn't actually find a cache, but I did the groundwork for this multi (a multi cache is one where you have to solve various clues in order to discover the location of the final prize).

It was a really interesting walk, taking me through a lovely park that I've never found before, past a very pretty Gothic style church, and an interesting old pump. And finally down a street where apparently the archaeology TV show Time Team visited back in 2000 and dug up all sorts of interesting finds.

I have now got the co-ordinates for the final cache and will no doubt go out and find it some time, but even if I don't ever get around to it, I have already had loads of enjoyment from the clue gathering stage.

On Saturday I picked up my free Daylight lamp from the local Freecycler. It's just like the one I showed a photo of last week, if a little tattier looking. But I don't mind tatty as it works brilliantly and I have used it loads already, it is a godsend for winter evening crafting.

Also at the weekend, thebestboyfriendintheworldever gave me a brilliant pressie. It's a travel bug, which is a kind of token that you put in a geocache and it gets moved on by other cachers, sometimes all over the world. As it has a tracking number on it you can keep up with its travels. It's a nice way of virtually travelling to places you might never see in real life. But this is no ordinary travel bug and I'll probably keep it rather than putting it in a cache - because it is a gorgeous Haida orca! Just like the mother and baby on my back. Thank you Jay!

On Saturday evening Connor came to hockey for the first time in ages, and actually quite enjoyed it! (despite moaning lots that he wasn't going to). I think the big punch up helped (Andre Payette, always a good bet for a scuffle to entertain small boys :) )

Sunday was the undoubted highlight of the week - we had a great morning geocaching around Charlecote Park in Warwickshire (where we found the super creepy skull baby)....

Then a flying visit to Stratford upon Avon (where many postcards and much fudge was purchased, and we went to Shakespeare's birthplace and met a giant Elizabethan teddy)...

And then we met up with my bessie mate Alison and her hubby Malc to go to see the Coventry Blaze vs Nottingham Panthers at the Coventry ice rink. And Connor bumped into Scorch, his favourite hockey mascot :)

Other good things that happened this week:

I completed my first month of the Project 366 challenge - to take a photo every day - I haven't missed a day yet and - so far at least - it's not even feeling like a chore. You can see my year of photos so far here
I've finished two of my 3 outstanding circle journal entries and the books have gone in the post - I'm working my way through that long to do list slowly but surely :)
I heard from my son at Uni and he sounds really happy, he is in his second term of his first year and is really settling in now
I found a great deal for a phone for my youngest, who is playing out a lot more now after school and is getting to the age where a phone would be useful. It's only £7.50 a month and that includes a brand new phone, 250 minutes calls a month, 5,000 texts and 500 Mb data. Bargain.
This lunchtime by pure fluke I went into the post office on the day they got the new issue of stamps in, they only ever get one sheet per price point, and they are usually snapped up in minutes, so I was really lucky to be able to buy a good selection today of George V and Edward VIII. The overseas postcrossers will LOVE them, they all go ga ga for royalty.
And last but certainly not least - another pressie - my bro- and sis- in law are currently on their travels around the world - and today they sent me a present and it is sooooo coooool!!!! I LOVE my owl bag, thanks so much Si and Annie if you read this :) xx

Now I'm off to Virginia's blog to see how the other Rockettes have got on this week.....

Where rock meets the movies.....

2012-02-03T00:33:00.003Z

I've been a busy bee this week, working on this particular CJ every evening, desperately trying to get it finished by posting day (and as that was yesterday, I failed, ooops, but at least I'm not too late!)

This is Jasmine's journal in the Rock Resurrected circle over at UKScrappers, and her theme is a kind of rock music/cinema crossover.

The construction of the book is really unusual, but a lot of fun to work in, with a folded envelope making a pocket to decorate front and back, also a sign in flap, and there is also room to put an insert in the pocket.

This enabled me to work on three separate entries for this theme (which is why it has taken me all week :) )

First up, Jas suggested we re-imagine a Disney classic with rock legends in the cast - how could I resist Alice Cooper and Dee Snyder as Cinderella's ugly sisters? (Before you lynch me, Carmen and Penny, I mean no offence to Alice - or Dee for that matter - I just think they would play the part with gusto!)

Not a great picture of the carriage (it looks better at full size if you click on it but still not great) - it's got pearlescent paint on it which catches the flash - but you get the idea..... my favourite bit is Cinders' little rock hand :) |m|

Next up, on the other side of the envelope pocket - my little tribute to one of the greatest rock movies of all time, the mighty Spinal Tap:

And yes, the volume knob does twiddle round :)

And here's my sign in on the back of the flap.....we all have a journalling spot to fill in, mine was "words that I think sound cool".....the outright winner? definitely "plinth" :)

And finally, inside the pocket, this insert, telling the story of how I discovered the Seattle sound - grunge music - one of the longest lasting loves of my life - largely via the film Singles back in 1992. Great film. Amazing soundtrack.

So that's all for rock at the movies....next month it's all about Linkin Park, am already thinking about my page....

Rocking Your World Friday - week 4

2012-01-27T11:46:00.000Z

Well that’s another week gone – they seem to be going by everso quickly since I joined the Rockin’ Crew!

A fairly quiet week, but still with plenty of highlights:

The first thing that’s been rocking my world this week is Postcrossing – I’ve had an even better than usual postcard crop recently.

Last Saturday there were no less than three cards on my doormat, and they were all really cool ones. One from Barcelona with a great photo of the Gaudi park (I’d LOVE to go there one day), one from Amsterdam featuring the (in)famous Bulldog café (I might have already been there, ahem, once or twice, a long time ago, back in my student days :) ), and one from Germany with, rather inexplicably, an oil painting of a skeleton doing a pee :D

Also, not pictured, a few days later I received from the US a fantastic lenticular card of a 3-D eye which winks as you move the card. Very very cool. And a really fab roller coaster card too (my first ever from Australia). And a card with a photo of a man balancing chairs on his fingertips, from a lady in the Netherlands who makes lovely ATCs who I'm hoping to maybe swap with.

You never know what kinds of postcards you are going to receive, or who from, it's certainly more fun than coming home to just bills on the doormat.

On Saturday night we were at the rink as usual watching ice hockey, and as the visiting team this week were the Basingstoke Bison, I got to see my pals Grant and Emily as that’s their team – always nice to bump into friends.

Sunday was the real highlight of the week, as we had a brilliant day out in gorgeous Glastonbury. It was a cold (and mega windy, especially at the top of the Tor!) day but gloriously sunny.

For some time (almost a year) we have been gathering clues around Somerset to find a particular geocache, and the last piece of information we needed was atop the Tor. So we climbed it. Up the steepest side of the hill. In a force 1000 gale. It was certainly invigorating!!! And with hindsight, insane :)

We climbed up from those little teeny houses

it was steep!

I got a real feeling of accomplishment from it though when I got to the top, as it’s rare for me to push myself quite that hard. Next time, though, I’m going up the normal path that isn’t quite so vertical :D

Bit windy at the top! Do you like my combover? :)

The boys had tons of fun running into the wind and almost standing still

After climbing the Tor we had a mooch around town, ate a delicious veggie pasty, and then found and logged the year long cache thanks to the final clue. Hooray!

Monday I had a day off work – always nice :) I used the time to ..... dramatic drumroll ..... FINISH MY SKETCHBOOK PROJECT ENTRY!!!!!! I can't stress how much of a big deal that is :)

Around Christmas time I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going to get it finished in time. And that would have been a real waste, both of the entry fee, and more importantly of all the time I had already spent on it.

But then I decided I had to get my head down and get on with it, and get on with it I did. And it went in the post this Tuesday. Such a relief :) Now I can get back to all the other things I should have been doing this month, like the pile of circle journals in the corner, and my sad neglected art journal....

Tuesday night I had an early night - first one in ages, I just tucked up with my book and was asleep long before midnight. Bliss.

The remainder of the week was fairly uneventful, the two highlights being watching the King's Speech on Wednesday evening - wow, what a great film!

And sourcing a freestanding Daylight lamp for winter evening crafting from Freecycle! for free! (obviously, otherwise it would be called paycycle :) )

Please pop by Virginia's blog if you would like to read about everyone else's rocking weeks, or if you fancy joining in with us. I can thoroughly recommend it - focussing on the positives gives you a nice warm glow :)

Back on the circle journal bandwagon

2012-01-26T23:47:00.000Z

Gosh, it feels like ages since I last worked in a CJ. Well, it was in 2011, and we're in 2012 now, so that's a year ago. Kind of :)

This is my entry in Shirley's CJ in the "Artistic Licence" circle. The artist she has chosen for us all to interpret is Victor Vasarely, a French-Hungarian artist who worked in the op art style.

I chose his painting Catch from 1945 to re-work:

It's a powerful image - like human yin and yang.

I've taken a few liberties with it, rotating the figures by 90 degrees, swapping the light and dark figures round, and injecting a bit of colour. Sorry VV :)

The end result looks simple, but trust me, cutting out those two figures with my little Xacto blade so that they would fit together perfectly was anything but! I think these two are attempt number three :)

Worth the effort though for the feeling of satisfaction when all those little sets of fingers finally fitted together like jigsaw pieces - hooray!

I think the next CJ is Van Gogh.....eek......pressure, much??

Sketchbook Project 2012 - "Along The Line"

2012-01-24T19:36:00.000Z

And so it's finally finished - hooray!

This is my entry for the Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour

After nine months of slogging away at this little fella, I'm half just glad to see the back of it, and half sad that I have to send it away.

Anyway, it's halfway across the Atlantic now, but I scanned it in before it went - so here are my favourite bits:

I can't wait for the book tour to reach these shores, so I can go to visit my book, and meet some of its little sketchbook pals :)

Rocking Your World Friday - week 3

2012-01-20T08:13:00.000Z

Gosh. That week went fast!

So here we are again, and it's time to round up this week's happy moments...

Last weekend there were smiles all round, as it was lovely and sunny. I love Winter sunshine. We went out for a fab (if rather cold!) walk and found a few geocaches, and along the way we discovered a little 13th century church, completely deserted, but open so we could have a good look round.

On the same walk we also found the remains of a medieval village called Richardston - not much left of it now but lumps and bumps in a large field, but it was fascinating to walk through where the village used to be, and imagine all the hustle and bustle (and the smells :) ) of the middle ages all around us.

As for the geocaches themselves, we only found two, but they were good ones - quality over quantity is our motto.

Sunday was Roller Derby day - woooohoooo!!! I had been looking forward to this for ages.

This was the Swindon Rail Road Rebels' first ever game....not a full official bout just yet but a friendly scrimmage vs Oxford. It wasn't open to the general public as they want to get a couple of friendlies under their belt before worrying about an audience, but I was lucky enough to be allowed in to take some photos.

And by "some", I mean around 700! Sadly 99% of them were blurry rubbish, though. Close quarters, fast moving action is pretty hard to capture in a dimly lit indoor sports hall with no flash.... but by the end of the scrimmage I had got my camera settings pretty much optimised, and I'm hopeful of getting a better result next time.

These were a few of my favourite shots:


if looks could kill ;)

The game itself was incredibly exciting and fun to watch, I kept getting so caught up in the action that I forgot I was there to take photos - probably just as well as I would have ended up with 7,000 shots to sift through rather than 700 if I hadn't got distracted :)

Oh - and the final score?

Go Rebels Go!!!! :D :D :D

All the girls were really friendly, and I had a great time. Can't wait for the next bout!

Redundancy woes continue at work, but at least all went smoothly for the young lady from my team who has elected to take voluntary - she wasn't required to work her notice and she seemed chuffed with that. All was handled sympathetically, so that's good. Or at least, less bad than it could have been.

On Monday evening I was watching this You Tube tutorial on space painting for beginners, and I thought I'd give it a go.

I was chuffed to bits with the results, not bad for a first attempt, eh? (not that I can really take much credit, I just followed the steps in the video, and it just worked!)

The best part, though, was Darby's reaction when I showed it to him - apparently these "look like rocky terrestrial planets, though they seem to orbiting quite close to one another but thats not unheard of - though I would just have to say there shouldn't be quite as much debris between/close to the planets as per the IAU definition of planet they should have cleared the neighbourhood of their orbits of any small bodies" .... ahhhh, the joys of having an undergraduate astrophysicist for a son :D

I'm still making progress with my Sketchbook Project book - in fact that's where the space painting ended up:

I only have one more double page spread left to do now, and the covers. Phew! Hopefully by next week's RYWF post I'll be able to say it's fiiiiinally finished :)

Also this week, for the first time in yonks and yonks, I had a little spend up on crafting supplies, with the last of my ebay proceeds. I bought some bookbinding thread, charms, stencils and a few other bits and bobs from A Sprinkle Of Imagination....

It arrived beautifully packaged, both the white tissue paper and purple ribbon have been filed away for later use, and there were sweeties inside too :)

Sweet retail therapy, how I have missed you!

(I need to sell more stuff on ebay so I can do it again lol)

And a couple more things that made me smile this week:

I found this book, that has been on my Amazon wish list for ages, in a charity shop for a quid, result.

And, very timely as I have been reading up a lot on printmaking techniques recently (I can smell a new obsession on the horizon, I'm SO faddy when it comes to arts and crafts, I wish I could settle on one thing and get good at it instead of all the flitting!) - there is a new print exhibition at the gallery near my work :

This was one of my favourites - a lino cut print with a little touch of gold leaf:

But there were tons of examples of all sorts of different techniques.

Loved it, definitely brightened up my lunchtime.

That's it for this week - see you again next time

Rocking Your World Friday - week 2

2012-01-13T14:27:00.001Z

It’s that time of the week again – time to reflect on the good stuff.

I’ve got to say, it’s been a little harder this week to pick past the big piles of not-so-good-stuff to get to those little nuggets of positivity – but that’s really what Rockin’ My World Friday is all about, I guess. It’s EASY to feel positive and grateful when everything is going swimmingly, but we need a bit of help when everything starts heading downhill…

First of all, rewinding back to this time next week, I’m still smiling from the super warm welcome I got from all the other “Rockettes” to my very first RMWF post. Thanks ladies :)

The next thing to make me grin was an email on Friday evening from the newly formed Swindon Roller Derby team, asking if I would be able to come and photograph their first ever bout for them (I used to do a lot of ice hockey photography and so I have the kit to get past the challenges of shooting fast moving people indoors under artificial light) – the bout takes place this coming Sunday and I am super excited about it as I’ve never seen live Roller Derby before.

As a warm up, I dusted off my old camera kit (literally!) and took a round of pics at hockey on Saturday night, just to get myself back into the swing of things, and I really enjoyed it (funny, since I stopped taking photos there every week as it had become such a chore, I guess once in a while is fun, every Saturday week in week out, not so much).

In fact last Saturday was a good hockey day all round, I had fun with my camera, we won (beating the team we all love to hate, the Guildford Flames, 6-4), and then when I got home I caught the last period of my NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks, beating their current nemesis, the Boston Bruins, in Boston’s home rink no less. Fantastic, I was positively jumping up and down with excitement :D Nothing beats the adrenaline buzz of seeing both my teams win on the same night!

Over the weekend I was still on my New Year cleaning / decluttering kick, I filled another 4 black bags with stuff to take to the tip, and freecycled and ebayed some stuff too. I’ll have nothing left soon :) The items I freecycled (toys that Connor has outgrown but were too good to chuck away) were all claimed and collected within an hour of me posting the offers online – brilliant! I get some space back in my hallway, some little kiddies get a new blackboard easel and toy town, and all sorted with the minimum of fuss or effort, win win all round.

Monday was the horrid day, with a pile more redundancies announced at my work, including two of the ladies who work for me, as their role is now being reduced from two heads to one :( The only positive to come from this is that one of them chose, seemingly quite happily, to take voluntary redundancy, so at least there won’t be any of that nasty competing over one job. Not in my team anyway. But the atmosphere at work will be tough for a while as all the other role reductions shake out.

Anyway – enough of that negativity – this isn’t the place for it! Also on Monday, I took my middle son back to Uni in Bristol, and he seemed happy and full of plans, so that’s always good.

Also this week I finished making my new art journal for 2012, and I’m chuffed with how it turned out (this is now the third blog post in a row with a photo of this journal on it – you must all be sick of the sight of it by now lol) – and the tutorial I put together while making the journal was used to kick start the 6 month “Art Journey” art journalling workshop over at UKScrappers. It seems to have been well received, so that’s good, as I was a bit nervous about it, wasn’t quite sure what was expected of me as I haven’t written a tutorial for them before.

Some other little happy bits and bobs that happened this week:

I discovered Sherlock on telly. Not seen it before. It's fab! I have spent the whole week catching up on previous episodes that I had missed.
The Hungry Horse pub chain – the kids idea of heaven - have started accepting Tesco Clubcard tokens at 4 x face value, so that means we can have a giant family meal out for a tenners’ worth of vouchers, which I got for free just for doing my shopping anyway. Bargain. I do love my Clubcard.
My middle son is still a member of the National Trust (mine ran out a few months ago), and he got sent his 2012 parking sticker this week. He doesn’t have a car so he gave it to me. Result – that’ll save me a fiver a pop whenever I go to Avebury :)
I finished another couple of spreads in my sketchbook project book, only 3 left to go now thank god. And despite rushing them, I don't hate them. Here’s a sneaky of one:

I bought a couple of items from ebay this week and had really good experiences with both sellers – one insisted on refunding 80p as he had over estimated postage (despite me telling him it really was ok and he didn’t have to), and the other sent me half as much product again as I had ordered as a free gift. Thank you ebay peeps :)

Reading that back, even a bad week looks like a fab week :)

See you again next Friday!

Make your own long-stitch bound journal : a photo heavy tutorial

2012-01-11T00:01:00.000Z

If you have arrived here from the UKScrappers Art Journey - welcome! This is the tutorial for the “making your own journal” option.

If you have come from elsewhere – you’re also very welcome :) please enjoy the tutorial in its own right :)

Step by step, I'll go through exactly how I made the journal pictured in my last blog post. Hopefully you will find it easy to follow, and might be inspired to make one of your own (and if you do, I'd love to see it!)

Like many art journallers (or should that be art journallists??), especially those with a scrapbooking background who are used to having patterned paper to use as a foundation, I often suffer from “white page syndrome” – starting with a completely blank page, or, scarier still, a completely blank spanking new journal, can be daunting!

So here are instructions to build yourself a journal that starts its life already full of colour, pattern and texture, just enough to give your pages that little head start…

You will need:

1) Various papers

2) A ruler

3) Paper trimmer or scissors and a steady hand

4) Leather, grungeboard, upholstery fabric, or any other durable, flexible material to cover your book

5) Awl or other sharp pointy tool

6) Waxed bookbinding thread (if you have no ready waxed thread you can make your own by pulling embroidery thread through a block of beeswax)

7) A large needle

8) A small plate or saucer

9) Optional – leather cord or ribbon to make a book closure

Step one – gather papers

This is the most fun step – as you get to rummage through your stash of papers, ephemera, even fabrics, to find potential pages for your new book – who doesn’t love to spend a few hours paper stroking?

Ideal candidates:

Heavyweight scrapbook papers – especially double sided

Pages from old books and dictionaries, sheet music, braille paper

Hand painted and inked papers left over from old projects or experiments

Handmade and speciality papers

Some plainer papers – thin cardstock, watercolour paper etc – to balance out all the patterns

Old postcards – both the picture and written sides will make an interesting base for a journal page

And anything else you think might work – acetate panels, felt and stiff fabric, perforated cardstock, go on, throw it all into the mix!

Other ideas – envelopes, junk mail, your own photographs….honestly, anything goes!

Step two – prepare your signatures

“Signatures” are simply the bookbinding world’s word for groups of pages. For this book, we will be using three-sheet signatures – essentially little folded pamphlets of 6 pages each.

So you will need to sort the papers and ephemera that you sorted out in step one, into groups of three that go together fairly well, and then cut these to size.

For my book I settled on a page size of 7.5” height by 5” width – so I cut most of my sheets to 7.5” by 10” and then folded in half. At least the outside page of each signature needs to be full size, but inner pages can be smaller.

Fold all pages, especially the trickier ones like acetate sheets, firmly with a bone folder to ensure a crisp fold

Add some flaps and pockets to some pages as they will be fun to work with later on:

(apologies for the state of my work table in some of these pics, by the way, it has so much old paint on it that it’s a minor work of art in its own right! :) )

And cut some small mini insert pages from scraps to add in here and there:

If any of your papers are too thin and flimsy, glue two or more sheets together with a glue stick or gel medium, to provide a more heavyweight foundation:

Join unconnected or smaller pages together at the fold point with decorative tape:

Eventually you will have a set of signatures, each containing three folded sheets, all cut to size and ready to bind:

I am making a big book here, with many signatures, you might want to aim for something smaller – 5 or 7 signatures makes a nice book, but any odd number works well.

Step three – binding the book

First you need to make yourself a guide.

Take a scrap piece of cardboard, the height of your book (in my case, 7.5”), fold it in half, and mark a cross on the fold half an inch from each end.

Then divide the distance between these two crosses into 5 and mark 4 more crosses equally spaced along the rest of the guide, as below:

Use an awl or other similar sharp pointy tool (a needle or drawing pin would do the job at a pinch), to make holes through the centres of the crosses.

Use this guide in the middle of each of your signatures in turn, to make holes in the right places in the folds:

You will end up with a stack of pierced signatures like these:

Next, cut a section from whatever you are using to cover your book – I am using an offcut of leather – but any strong/durable yet flexible material – eg grungeboard, upholstery fabric- will work well. This needs to be a little taller than your book, and wide enough to loosely wrap around your full set of signatures with a generous overlap (see below):

Place your stack of signatures on the cover material in such a way that the front cover piece folds over with around half an inch overhang, and then carefully open it up leaving the signatures in place, and use a ruler to mark the left hand edge of your bottom signature:

Mark a line along the right hand edge of the ruler, and use your guide, folded, to pierce six holes.

Work along to the left, piercing a set of holes for each of your signatures, just under quarter of an inch apart:

Once you have pierced all of your binding holes – in my case I decided to go with 11 signatures in the end – so I pierced 11 sets of 6 holes – you might want to cut a slit to put your closure ribbon/cord through later on. This is entirely optional, but if you do want one it’s a lot easier to cut it now than after you have bound the book!

Cut two slits with a sharp craft knife about half way down what will eventually become the spine of the book (in between the 3rd and 4th holes heightwise, and in the middle of your signatures widthwise)

You can see the positioning on this picture of the finished book:

Now you are ready to start sewing.

Place your last signature (the one that will end up at the back of the book) against the right-most set of holes in the inside cover (where you made your ruler mark), and thread your needle with a manageable amount of waxed thread.

Start sewing from inside the book, at the second from bottom hole – and leave a tail of thread a few inches long:

Sew with a simple running stitch (out one hole, in the next) up to the top hole, keeping the thread pulled tight as you go.

Then introduce your second-from-last signature, and sew to the left and into the top hole of the new signature, and use running stitch all the way down this new signature to the bottom hole.

And carry on running up one signature, over to the left, down the next signature, over to the left, and so on, remembering to pull the thread tight as you go. You should see this pattern emerging on the outside spine of your book:

At some point along the way, you will probably run out of thread and need to add a new length in.

To join the new thread, make a weaver’s knot, which is very secure and can be positioned precisely (this is best done inside the book, not on the outside):

Make two loops in the new thread:

Put the right hand loop through the left hand loop as so:

Tighten the left hand loop, but not completely:

Put the old thread (B) through the big loop in the new thread. Tighten the knot at C by pulling the new thread at A. Trim the ends leaving around a quarter of an inch.

The final knot looks like this:

When you have bound in all of your signatures, sew back the other way, filling in all the missed stitches at the ends, and doubling up all of the stitches in the middle for all but your first and last signature.

The completed bound spine will look like this:

Your thread will emerge at the end back where you first started, where you left the tail of thread in the first signature you sewed. Tie the two loose ends together with a normal double knot and trim the ends to complete the binding process:

Step Four: finishing touches

Use strong scissors to carefully trim your cover material to size at the top and bottom of the book, and the front cover, leaving approximately quarter of an inch overhanging the pages:

For the back cover, we want a generous amount of overlap for the book wrap, as trust me, once you start art journaling in this book it will grow and grow!

So leave more than you think you need, and then cut the edge into a semi circular shape using a small plate as a template:

Add a leather cord or ribbon to keep the book closed, and that’s your new art journal built, and all ready for you to fill it with pretty :)

New year, new journal

2012-01-07T21:47:00.000Z

Last year I did all my art journalling in Moleskines, a little notebook sized one for my main journal, and a landscape watercolour one for trips and holidays....but this year I thought I'd make my own book from scratch

So here it is!

I've used all sorts of different papers, I think it's going to be fun to work in - it should help to combat the old white page syndrome, anyway.

The binding is long stitch, similar to the book I made for Alison's christmas pressie, but bigger (the pages are roughly 7.5" x 5") and with a lot more pages (11 signatures of three sheets each)

I just wish I some time to actually DO some actual art journalling in it! But I need to get my Sketchbook Project book finished first.....deadline looming.....eek......wish me luck!

Rocking Your World Friday - week 1

2012-01-06T13:28:00.002Z

So….what’s this all about then?

All last year I enjoyed reading Virginia and Carmen giving a regular run down of what had been Rockin’ Their World that week – those little (or big) things that had put a smile on their face or a spring in their step.

I don’t think they will mind me saying, but neither lady was having an easy time of things, especially in the second half of 2011, but still every week they managed to find, and focus on, so many positives.

They really set a fantastic example, and this year I thought I would join in. It will help me stay focussed on the good stuff all year, and also it will be fun for me to sit and re-read all the posts next New Years eve and remind myself of everything I have been grateful for along the way.

So here goes….what’s been rocking my world this week?

The biggie is that my house is WARM again!

A few days before Christmas, our boiler went boom! And ever since then, we’ve had no heating, and no hot running water. It has been no fun at all.

But like knights on white chargers, British Gas turned up this week, and three days of hard work later, they have installed a brand spanking new combi boiler and we are, quite literally, running on gas again. Woohoo! I had an hour long super soak in the bath last night, and it was wonderful!

You don’t half appreciate things when they’ve been taken away from you for a while…

The next thing is kind of related to the boiler dudes’ visit. Of course they needed access to every radiator in the house. And you know what that means. It means that BEDROOMS have to be clean and tidy! Eek!!!! We don’t usually let people upstairs J We spent a solid two days tidying up the bedrooms – but it was SO worth it. My en suite bathroom is now so bright and decluttered that you need sunglasses to avoid the glare from the white tiles. My bedroom is so lovely I just want to live in it 24 hours a day. And, most exciting of all, we discovered that Connor, my 9 year old, not only has a CARPET, but apparently there was a RUG under there too! Who knew?? :D

We had a big clear out downstairs too (bye bye to my ten-years-in-the-making collection of jiffy bags from behind the big sofa, I’ll miss you, all my little envelope pals!), and two trips to the local tip later, the house was more presentable than it has been in years. And I love it! Now I just need to keep it that way J

Other miscellaneous things:

No, this isn't me...my arms aren't that hairy!

My middle son bought me a FAB Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock t shirt for my Christmas (slightly belatedly, it turned up in the post yesterday), which I’m currently wearing at work and which has already attracted a loud Bazingaaaa! :D
I got an extra day off work this week due to it being the boiler dudes’ first day working and wanting to be there to show them where everything was and offer them lots of tea and biccies and stuff – so I have only had to work three days this week, yay!
Thanks to that extra day off I actually got an art journal page done for the first time in a while
Plus, I feel like I have finally broken the back of my Sketchbook Project book, and for the first time I believe that I can and WILL get it finished in time for the January 31^st deadline
I got an extension on the bookbinding tutorial I am working on for the new Art Journey series over at UKScrappers, and am on track to finish it in plenty of time, so I no longer feel like I’ve let Mary Anne down (HATE letting people down!)
While tidying earlier in the week I found a fab old photo (see below) – we think it’s from 1999-ish – of my old team from when I worked at WHSmith. I wish my hair was still that colour! This caused great amusement at my new job as the chap on the bike works here too, and both he and I have changed in appearance a lot over the years! I love coming across forgotten gems like this J
I’ve bought myself a little pocket diary and am writing myself small bite sized daily to do lists and it’s really helping me feel in control and on top of stuff
I’ve also started taking photos every day for my “Project 366, a (leap) year in pictures” – having fun with it so far, no masterpieces yet but I’m hoping it will eventually provide an interesting (to me, anyway!) retrospective of the 12 months
Grapes were half price in Tesco today and I am thoroughly enjoying munching my way through a huge bag of them, they are DELICIOUS! (I might have a tummy ache later though if I don’t stop soon!)

I learnt this week that ESPN America are now starting to broadcast AHL hockey – which is fantastic news for me as I will be able to follow the Chicago Wolves – my main team’s farm team – and also other teams I am fond of such as the Hamilton Bulldogs and Hershey Bears – AND I can follow James Wright’s progress now he’s with the San Antonio Rampage. (I fully appreciate that this last bullet point will mean absolutely nothing to 99% of the people who read my blog, sorry! J )

So, there you go - LOTS to be happy about this week!

See you again same time, same place next Friday? Oh, and if you’d like to put together a Rockin’ post of your own, head on over to Virginia’s blog to find out where to link up and stuff…

Rock on!

A Wrap Up and a Look Forth

2012-01-03T22:01:00.000Z

So - here we are in 2012 already! Happy New Year peeps :)

I was planning to do a kind of wrap up page for my 2011 Moleskine (I've filled it, but it has this neat little pocket in the back cover to put a folded loose leaf page into...), but kept finding more urgent things to do - and then along came the very last prompt from A Year In The Life Of An Art Journal to give me a nudge....

THE PROMPT: Reflections
THE SONG: Live Like There's No Tomorrow by Selena Gomez and The Scene
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Stencils

I used my self portrait stencil in two directions and in positive and negative, to represent me both reflecting over the year just gone and looking forward to the new year to come.

And on the back I wrote down my highlights from 2011, and my hopes for 2012:

A quick and simple page - I didn't have much choice as my house was in disarray today with British Gas installing a new boiler and I couldn't get at most of my art stuff - but it finishes off my 2011 journal nicely

Onwards and upwards!

Best friends' handmade gift exchange

2011-12-30T00:16:00.000Z

This Christmas, my bessie mate Alison decided that, as we are both even more skint than usual, we weren't allowed to buy each other pressies. But one hand made gift was allowed.

I went up to visit her today, so of course being a total Last Minute Lucy, I've been frantically trying to get her gift made over the past few days.

It took me a while to work out what to make...I was going to go with jewellery, but she makes infinitely better jewellery than I do (as you'll see shortly ;) ), so in the end I decided on a small handbound journal / sketchbook as she is a cracking watercolourist.

And here it is. My first longstitch bound book. The binding is far from perfectly even, but hey, that's how you can tell it's handmade!

It's heavy watercolour paper with a real leather wrap and a ribbon closure.

I actually finished it last night with a plain black cover. But this morning - I must have been dreaming of Portlandia - I had an inescapable urge to put a bird (or three) (there's another one round the back) on it.

So I got the spray paint and stencils out and added the birds on a wire....and I'm glad I did as they finish it off nicely.

Happy to report that the bessie approved :)

So - what did she make for me?? The world's cleverest ring, that's what!

There it is, the copper ring in the box, topped with the lovely red lampwork glass bead (made by the bessie herself)

But what makes it super clever is that you can swap the topper around for any of the other four beads, as the ring has a tiny screw set into it, and each of the topper beads encases a tiny nut:

Genius!

And here's what the ring looks like on (please excuse big splodges of spray paint on my fingers! They are from the "put a bird on it" frenzy this morning with the journal!)

All in all a most successful gift exchange! Handmade gifts are better than shop bought ones any day.

Thanks again for the ring bww, I love it!

My Secret Santa ROCKS!

2011-12-25T21:42:00.000Z

As I write this post, it's late in the evening of Christmas Day. We've all eaten FAR too much, of course, and opened tons of fantabulous pressies.

I hope that anyone reading this had a wonderful day just like we did.

Especially my Secret Santa from Carmen's Christmas swap - who has spoilt me rotten!

Not only did whoever-it-is send a lovely, high quality sketchbook (perfect timing as I've just filled up my previous art journal, and haven't gotten round to buying or making a new one yet), a Cadbury's Wish chocolate (I looooooove those!) and a big pack full of fantastic papers and ephemera for arting up.

But she (pretty sure all the participants were shes) also carved me some fantastic little Christmas tree stamps, and - and this was the part of the gift that made me squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the loudest - she made me the MOST gorgeous little quilted bag for my journalling pens (seen above modelling my Copic airbrush plus all my most used pens). This bag is beyond impeccable in its construction - I WISH I could sew like that! - and I love it to bits!

Thank you SO much Santa - one little confession, though. I set up a movement activated security camera last night by our tree, and, well, you're not so secret any more! Nice moves ;)

Scratching out a rainbow bird, or two, or three

2011-12-07T12:41:00.001Z

This is my latest entry for the Artistic Licence CJ - and the inspirational artist this month is Nikki Monaghan.

Now, I have to admit I had never heard of her before embarking on this circle journal, but I do like her bold, colourful style.

As other entrants in the CJ had already largely covered off her recurrent motifs of patchwork trees and boats:

I decided to choose a slightly less typical "Monaghan" as my inspiration, this one is called "Bird 3":

I love how the bright colours pop against the black background, and I figured even with my distinct lack of drawing skillz, I could probably manage a simple birdie.

I was going to paint the bird or birds first, and then paint all around it in black - but then my creative director (otherwise known as my other half, Jay, who always has the best ideas) said, why not do it like we used to do at school - with coloured wax crayons under black, and then you scratch off the top layer.

Genius!

Trouble was, I really couldn't get the wax on wax thing working for me....so I experimented a bit with various materials I had to hand, and ended up with a method that seemed to work pretty well.

So just in case any of you would like to try something similar, here's a bit of a step by step.

Step 1 - lay down some lovely BRIGHT colours fairly randomly onto white smooth or glossy cardstock. I used spray paints, but anything that dries flat and permanent would work well - like alcohol inks/markers for example.

Step 2 - not pictured. Spray a coat of clear acrylic varnish over the colours to help protect them from the scratchy scratchy bit later on

Step 3 - scribble all over with wax crayon. As you can see, it doesn't make a good enough top coat to use as is, but it's an important step as it will allow us to lift off our black layer later. I've used a dark blue crayon here rather than black, as I'm going to be covering it over anyway, and I couldn't find my black crayon :)

Step 4 - cover the wax crayon layer with a thin coat of black gesso if you have it, or black acrylic paint if not.

Step 5 - once the gesso is completely dry, sketch out your design - in my case - 2 birds - in pencil

Step 6 - using a sharp tool of some sort - mine is a stainless steel burnisher used in jewellery making, but anything similar would do - eg the pointy end of a small pair of scissors - scrape off the wax and gesso layers to reveal the colourful paint beneath. Ahhhhhh. Purty :)

Leave some of the black showing in places, as this adds to the "woodcut" look

Step 7 - add another coat of clear sealant or matt varnish when you're done

And that's pretty much it.

Here are my birds (I added a third on a whim part way through to balance the composition):

And you can see my finished piece using them, along with some embossed copper leaves, at the top of this blog post.

It was fun to do something in a different style and devise a new twist on an old technique. If any of you lot do give it a go, please comment with a link so I can some and have a peek.

I'm famous! :) :) :)

2011-12-07T10:49:00.001Z

There I am, look, in my Canucks jersey (it's my white one, hence it's #17 Kesler, in case you were wondering), and, ummmm, green shorts and bare feet - standard winter wear round here :)

I am immensely proud to have been immortalised in Carol Browne's annual lego advent - I positively squeeeeed when I settled in to read today's episode, and the realisation slowly dawned that the jersey wearer was meeeee, and then again later on in the post when we all (including the cats, and Dave the gnome) sit down to do some art journalling.

Pity Will & Kate couldn't stick around to join in too :)

Thanks Carol, this really made my day :)

Don't upset the balance....

2011-11-30T23:35:00.001Z

And so, with this quick and simple page, that's my baby Moleskine all filled up!

I was kind of hoping it would last till the end of the year so it could be my 2011 journal - but I guess I got a bit ahead of myself :)

Here it is all bursting at the seams, it's been a good little companion to me over the past 11 months:

But anyway, back to the page in hand.

This one's in response to the latest prompt over at A Year In The Life Of An Art Journal, the one challenge site I have managed to keep up with pretty much all year, as I really enjoy their 3-part prompts that you can take in pretty much any direction you choose.

THE PROMPT: Pretty
THE SONG: Fuckin' Perfect by Pink
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Pink Paint Dripped like Blood

I started thinking about the concept of "pretty" - and would I want to be prettier than I am (not difficult lol) - and then got stuck on the "pretty pretty please" in the song lyrics, and thinking about asking/begging the universe to make me prettier/thinner/richer/have more talent/have more stuff.....

And then I thought about the concept of balance ..... how if the left hand gives, the right hand takes away .... and I realised I didn't want any of that extra stuff enough to give up any of the great things I already have in my life.

So my "pretty pretty please" ended up as a request to the universe to leave my perfect life just as it is.

Funny where these prompts end up taking you :)

The construction of the page was quick and easy - spray paint in two shades of pink over some scrapbook paper with a faint Oriental text on it. Stamped yin-yang symbols. A picture of a perfectly balanced scale (must have been tricky getting it so spot on that those balls didn't roll off!) added to drive the point home. And then the title drawn with a yellow Posca paint pen and outlined with a thin black Pitt pen. And the journalling written in with the same Pitt pen. and we're done.

It's way simpler than most of my pages but it doesn't seem to need anything else adding to it.

AJED : 105 / 365

My pages for the tallest handmade book....

2011-11-20T19:12:00.001Z

...are all finished and ready to be sent to Oregon (a place I've always wanted to visit, but my pages will have to go there on my behalf)

I look forward to seeing them in the finished book, some time next year.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a clickety click on the logo below will explain everything:

It's been simultaneously liberating, and difficult, to work completely without a brief or a theme - I'm so used to doing themed circle journals, that being told I can do absolutely anything I want left me a little rabbit-in-the-headlights to start with.

So I started with imagery and themes that I'm very familiar with, things that are very "me", like a slightly darker, more grungy re-work of my Don't Blink canvas:

And this page using my favourite orca stamp (which I've blogged already but here it is for completeness)

Next I found a great headline in one of my old, old books (this one's from the late 1800s) - "Ventriloquism, and how to acquire the art"- and paired this with an image of some rather creepy puppets for the page at the top of this post.

And finally, some fun with layers of image transfers and texture and a creepy plague doctor:

I think that these four are fairly representative of my usual style, and the kinds of imagery and colours I respond to, which is what I was aiming for.

Now to pop them in the post...

So is there one L in Vermilion, or two in Vermillion?

2011-11-16T23:19:00.001Z

Rock CJ time again - and this month it's Clare's colour themed journal.

We are each to choose a rock band or song with a colour in the name, and make something with that colour dominant, that will fit in a little 5" square clear plastic pocket.

My go to favourite-song-with-a-colour-in-it is usually Pearl Jam's Black. But I've already done a layout based on that song in another colour themed journal some time ago - plus I've done Pearl Jam to death so far in this current rock CJ (here and here) - and it's about time another band got a look in!

So I've chosen Vermilion by Slipknot - such a brilliant, haunting song. I just wish they'd learn how to spell! I'm convinced it's vermillion with 2 L's - maybe it's an American/British thing like color and colour and center and centre....?

This is what my entry looks closed up. One of the key lines from the song is written on the front in silver ink using a dip pen. You'll notice that my sewing machine REALLY didn't like the spraypainted cardstock - it is a tad sticky and kept getting stuck on the feeders, but I've decided I actually like the super messy look - in some places it has just carved chunks out of the cardboard - I think it adds to the crazed serial killer vibes more than beautiful neat stitching ever could :) (that's my justification and I'm sticking to it!)

And here it is opened out:

Not the best photo as there was too much glare from the lights above, but you get the general idea. You can see Corey's mask better in the close up at the top of this page. The zipper on the mouth is decoupaged up on foam pads, and the edge of the picture has been airbrushed over in black to give the picture a smoother transition into the background.

She isn't real! I can't make her real!

And here's the back, including my sign in info:

That's pretty much it.

I hope the CJ owner likes it and doesn't think it's too dark or grisly.

And I hope nobody else further down the line wanted the colour red, better think of a reserve colour ladies :)

My cheer-me-up playlist

2011-11-15T00:11:00.001Z

It's been too long since I last played in the Green Pepper Press Crusades - but Michelle knows that she can always count on me to join in with the music related challenges, I can never resist :)

Can't believe this is Crusade #57 - I fondly remember number one!

A simple brief then - name and shame the list of songs you can't stop yourself belting out in the car, in the bath, pottering around the kitchen - the ones that lift your spirits every. single. time.

So here's my list - my playlist of pure joy :)

I think I'm going to burn this little lot onto a CD for the car - then if I'm ever feeling a little down, I know I have handy a 100% guaranteed way to cheer myself up :)

(Please don't judge me on McFly and the show tunes!)

AJED : 104/365

Brrrring on the bllllling!

2011-11-11T01:14:00.001Z

Well this pushed me a little out of my comfort zone :D

But that's why circle journals are fun!

This is my latest entry in the Project Runway CJ - and the theme for this journal was the drag queen challenge.

Now this doesn't mean that we had to make a page about an actual drag queen (although my punk rock princess does look a teeny bit butch!) - but that we had to roll out the bright colours and, most importantly, the BLING.

Eeeek, I really don't do bling :)

But as soon as I started thinking jewels..... jewellery....PIERCINGS! I was back on home turf, yay!

So I found a photo online of a rather prim and proper young lady, and proceeded to re-invent her complete with a punk rawk makeover, with tattoos and piercings galore, and that rather fetching hair style. Quite an improvement if you ask me :)

There is so much on the page that is super shiny or glittery, it was virtually impossible to take a photo of.

For example the "punk rock bling" title is actually on extra reflective mirror film, and the purple stripes (which are actually straight and parallel to the edge in real life, honest) are shiny too:

So please do use your imaginations to fill in all the glare :)

Timecachers by Glenn R Petrucci - a book review and a giveaway too!

2011-11-06T22:40:00.000Z

Sometimes in life, you just get lucky.... and I think that it's only fair that in those situations, you pass on the luck.

About a month ago, I happened across an online write up of a newly published novel that sounded right up my street.... I'm a geocacher, and I love both historical- and science-fiction. So what's not to love about (gross over generalisation coming up.....) a story about time travelling cachers who visit the old Wild West?

This was the press release I had stumbled across, it was certainly enough to make me want to read the book:

It was breakthrough technology, but where would it lead them?

When Adam Hill of Overhill Engineering accepted the assignment to test the innovative device, he knew the project would be exciting, but this was far beyond his team’s expectations. A handheld navigation device with the ability to provide precise location information anywhere on earth—or anywhere in the universe—without the need of a supporting satellite system! “We’ve discovered some interesting anomalies that may actually enhance the unit’s functionality,” said Dr. Odan, the enigmatic inventor of the LANav device. “We need engineers who are familiar with hardware and software testing, as well as an aptitude for outdoor activities, such as backpacking, orienteering, and survival skills. They will also need practical knowledge of early American history.” As avid outdoorsmen and geocachers, Adam’s team was well suited to the project. Field testing the device would require them to travel to the remote mountains of northwest Georgia, where wilderness skills would understandably be required. But what possible need for knowledge of early American history could there be? They soon discover the device has the capability to lead them not only to any destination—but to any time—in this case May, 1838, the beginning of the Cherokee Indian Removal.

So off I skipped to Amazon.co.uk, to find that they only have a Kindle version available :( Boo! I'm one of those strange old fashioned people who prefers to read actual books made of actual paper.

Then, as I said, I struck lucky! I was able to make contact with the author, who generously sent me a review copy of the book, signed no less, so I was able to read it after all - hooooray!

And read it I did. In fact, devour might be a better word. I loved this book!

Now, I'm not sure how thoroughly I can review it without giving away too much of the plot. But suffice to say that it ticked all my boxes:

there was lots of detail - I love detail! both technical / jargon detail about the fictitious GPS-like invention that's central to the plot, and also historical detail about the time period in which the bulk of the book is set, and the daily lives of the Cherokee.
I really got to know - and care about - the characters. In fact I had a good weep at one point when something not so good happens to one of them. And that's always a good sign as it shows that the characters and story are completely believeable.
the insight the novel gave me relating to the major historical event that the story revolves around - the Cherokee Indian Removal of 1838 - was absolutely fascinating.
it was really refreshing to read a time travel story that wasn't obsessed with the whole paradox aspect, and the consequences for the future of making the tiniest change in the past.
I liked the way that the main characters in the book were able to split up to go and have their own adventures, so that the storyline could cut from one to the other. It kept everything moving along at a perfect pace.
it's a long book - large format and 600 pages - but it was quick and easy to read. If anything I wish it was a little longer as the ending felt almost unexpectedly sudden.
you certainly don't need to be a geocacher to enjoy this novel, not at all - but the added twist of seeing my geeky hobby mentioned in print was fun for me
and it was left wide open for a sequel - and I am SO keen to read more!

But anyway, you don't have to take my word for it, as I said I'd pass on the luck, didn't I?

So I'm going to send this book, autographed by the author, on to another lucky UK reader.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning it is leave a comment on this blog post.

I will use a random number generator to choose the winner in one week - so that will be on Monday November 14th. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win (eg. email address, a link to your own blog, your geocaching name if you cache, etc).

And please note, the draw is open to UK residents only.

Good luck!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's now November 14th - so I'm announcing the winner!

*drumroll please..........*

The random number generator chose number 3:

And the third commenter was Ally - so congratulations Ally!

I will be in touch to get your postal address, and will pop the book in the post ASAP

...so do you really need 5 different bottles of shampoo???

2011-11-04T19:17:00.002Z

A quick "just because" art journal page tonight, in honour of a fab gig I went to on Wednesday night.

AJED : 102/365