art journaling on a sunny weekend in Wales

We were very kindly invited to join some friends on a weekend break in North Wales this weekend.  It was fabulous, the highlight being seeing dolphins close to the shore as we paddled this morning.  Jon attempted to join them in the water but they preferred swimming alone lol!

We were staying near Aberdaron on the Lleyn Peninsula, an area in which my family spent many happy camping holidays when my sister and I were small; and I've never seen dolphins in these waters before :)

The cottage was beautifully decorated, and had STuNNiNG views...

It was unseasonably warm, but signs of autumn were definitely about ...

We had a wonderfully relaxed weekend, with time to read, play games, walk, and I had time to journal :)

As we were leaving on Friday I grabbed an old book I'd bought for the covers.  I was going to use them to make a journal but decided to use the whole book instead.  It's approximately A4 size; I didn't have any gesso with me so used layers of emulsion paint instead.

One of the owners of the book had used a felt tip pen which came through the paint.  The blue and pink rectangle is a result of this, and encouraged me to add these shades throughout the page.  

I do love the effect of my Stabilo Woody pencils (the waxy watercolour ones) on the emulsion :)

day out in Wales

                                   

Living just south of Manchester, UK means we are fairly close to Wales and can go there for a day out.  Tom wanted to visit Conway Castle.  He loves going to castles and doesn't consider a holiday complete without going to one (although I have to say this is his third one this hols!!!).  He was very specific about going to Conway, for this reason...

He's now the proud owner of a replica dagger!  My three children were then very keen to show Oscar the smallest house in Britain!  This was followed by fish and chips - yummy!  [Note that George is still allergic to the camera ;)] 

I've got three sleeps now until I start Julie Prichard's Super Nova Journaling Class.  It's so exciting.  It's a really friendly online group and about half a dozen or so of us are here in the UK.  That's been extremely helpful for sourcing supplies. 

I thought I'd share a book with you that I made earlier this year.  I've wanted to make a rug ragged spine on a book for a few years now and finally had the time to do it.  I love the feel of it in my hands. 

The pages are all different sizes, with some different colours and textured edges, but what I should have done is collaged the papers before I bound it - I've not been brave enough yet to put anything in it!!  The binding isn't the neatest I've ever done, but then, it is effectively a prototype as I made it up myself!