Hello my dears!

Okay. So I know you're not supposed to say you love your own stuff, but I don't care, cos... I freakin' LOVE this page!

There. Said it.

I just want to stroke it.

I started by painting the blank page blue and green (my fave colour combo) with water soluble crayons. I then stamped flowers randomly all over the page using white acrylics and blue ink. I had some white paint left over, so I spread that over a paper towel and stamped with that too. I loved that texture and wanted more of it, so I dyed the rest of the towel blue, tore it, and stuck the pieces down in opposite corners.

Next, I smeared patches of texture paste through sequin waste. When it was dry, I went over it with blue ink, off-setting it a little.

I thought the bottom left hand corner needed a little something, so I sprayed some ink through a doily. Then I stencilled some wording randomly all over the page.

While I was doing all of that I had some plaster gauze drying on the side. I cut it into a large heart free-hand and smeared the edges with blue and bronze. I wound some embroidery thread around it, and glued down the word trust.

Lastly, I tore a scrap piece of parcel paper, crumpled it up a little and stuck it down on the page. Once down and dry, I edged it a little with bronze acrylics and blue oil pastel. I then stuck down the heart on top. But it still looked a bit bare, so I tucked the last of my gold mesh behind the heart, and went over a couple of the page edges with oil pastel.

And there you have it.: one deliciously tactile journal page.

Look!

It's finished!

This is what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. A geisha! Who knew I had it in me?

Not me, that's for sure!

You see, the piece started off as a Valentine's project!

A Valentine's project I'd thought about for months at that... planned in some detail, gathered stuff for, and thought I knew inside out.

Shame nobody told my muse. She had other ideas.

Just goes to show you never really know where your inspiration will take you. You just have to go with the flow and hope for the best.

 So this is how I did it:

I started off by collaging a large canvas with newspaper.

Newspaper that was perfect for the project I had in mind. Newspaper we found under the lino (which we found under the fitted carpet) when we did up our bedroom the other year. Newspaper from the year Alan was born. Newspaper that had this lovely story about a local couple celebrating their 81st wedding anniversary.

The stuff Valentine's craft dreams are made of.

But no no, muse, I'm not bitter. You just go ahead and change it for a geisha any time you like. You know best.

Anyway...

I then added a layer of tissue paper that I had crumpled up a bit first to make the yummy ridges you see above. When that was dry, I slapped down texture paste that I pressed sequin waste into on part of the canvas.

I let it all dry naturally while I went off and played at being a housewife for a bit.

Next up...colour. I layered water soluble crayons, stamps, ink and acrylics willy nilly till I got an effect I liked. I also painted some book pages bronze and cut them out with a heart punch. I glued them down on one side of the canvas and outlined them with blue oil pastel. I stuck some gold mesh I found in my card making supplies on top.

Ok. So by now the muse was practically hitting me over the head with the idea I should make a geisha instead of what I had planned, so I looked up some pics online for inspiration and drew one up. I coloured her in with water soluble crayons, water colour pencils, ink, acrylics and graphite pencil. I then outlined her with the same blue oil pastel I had used for the hearts.

And there you have it! One geisha a la Carin.

Yay! Things are finally starting to take shape in this awkward little corner under the stairs. I love it!

The new desk is just perfect for the space. It's nice and sturdy, looks lovely, and, best of all, it fits (you wouldn't believe how many nice- looking desks I had to reject because they were too big)!!! Next up... a shelf and an office chair. Oh, and finding some way to hide all those cables!

 Happy days!