Dina Wakley Weekend at Art From The Heart

Hello!! Hard to believe that this time last week I was enjoying a lovely glass of wine (or two) at Pizza Express in Harrogate with the amazingly talented, gorgeous Dina Wakley and a few Blogland friends that I had the huge pleasure of finally meeting - namely Kate and Sarah. We were joined by Chris (who is hilarious after a couple of glasses and a sweetheart beforehand!), Dina's son Carter and Paul. We had a really nice time (would probably have been even nicer if SOMEONE hadn't forgotten to take the special offer vouchers with her, the dippy moo...) and you can see photographic evidence of this on Kate's blog as I didn't take my camera?!? Don't know what it was about the weekend but I just kept forgetting to take pictures - very unusual for me...what little I have I will share though!!

Here's a rundown of the weekend in the pictures I remembered to take...

I was sitting next to Sandra who has to be one of my favourite people EVER. Funny, thoughtful and always ready with words of support when you think it's all gone horribly wrong...she's a talented lady and I love the fact that she had totally colour co-ordinated her page with her outfit!! And she calls me the Style Queen?!?

Messy hands were a big part of the weekend...we all had them. If you didn't then you were doing something wrong (or wearing gloves, but even then...) We decided quickly that if there was paint on our faces then we were proper artists...Sandra and I are definitely proper artists - I thought she'd cut her head at one point and I had a blue lip for most of Sunday!!

3 of the 5 pages I did on Friday...I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the first day. Dina is a generous teacher, sharing techniques, advice and putting everyone at ease from the outset. If you ever have to opportunity to be taught by her, grab it with both hands. Seriously.

Another page in the early stages...

...and the end result.

Day 2 was all about the layers. Each time we changed technique, colour or texture, that counted as another layer. Dina challenged us to reach 20 layers in one page, which I thought was impossible for me but I managed to reach 23!! Here is the page in progress...

...and 23 layers later!!

We were joined on Day 2 by Sexie Suzy and her lovely Mum. Here they are with Sandra.

Considering we were working in very close quarters (and her and Sandra added their own 'layers' to my pages) we got on really well and it was fantastic to meet them. By the way, that white t-shirt - as far as I could tell - remained white by the end of the day. Amazing.

I also had the huge pleasure of Ann's company for the weekend. Now Ann hasn't been well at all recently but, in spite of some low points, she powered through and kept us all smiling - or in me and Sandy's case, laughing till the tears ran down our faces...

Her 'Bugger It' method of creating pages is something to behold and she had some amazing stories from her Beatnik days involving The Beatles and Mick Jagger!! Hope we meet up again soon Ann!!

Day 3 was portrait painting - Dina Style. We did pretty good considering the night before, Paul took over the guest house bar and turned it into a scene from Cocktail. Kind of..!! Again, see Kate's blog for the photos!! Anyway, we each had to bring a selection of photos - close up shots of our (or anyones) face and we set about applying white paint to the light areas, black to the dark then building up a light, medium and dark tone of the same colour to the corresponding areas. Dina demonstrated each step but she has the annoying knack of making it look SO easy!!

But we gave it a go and she was really impressed with the results!!

Here's my 1st attempt at me, in glorious pink and blue...

I did one of Molly too but I'm still not happy with her lips and eyes - there's just something not quite right. Think the photo was so dark to begin with, it was hard to get the 'shapes' right...

Dina helping fix Molly...

Sandy and the gorgeous Shelley hard at work...

Sarah did 2 fantastic portraits of her kids and then attempted to 'do' herself...she gave up at the point where she managed to make herself look like an 80 year old woman!! Here she is with her 'future' self smiling beautifully as always...

Kate and Sarah were staying at Alexa House too (in a Love Shack, no less) and it was fantastic to get to know them in real life. Kate has such a unique style - erring towards the weirdy-wonderful but always beautifully quirky...she also (rumour has it) wears a purple polka dot sleep mask to bed, but I believe that's just a vicious rumour...if only there was a photo to prove it... Next time we're down in Harrogate, we're arranging a night out with husbands!!

Kate, Sarah, me and Dina...

Dina, Dyan and me - how amazing does Dy look in those bright colours?!?

Dy was around all weekend, making sure we were all happy, keeping us fed and watered with the help of John - aptly named 'The Babe' and Ben, Katie and Pam. So sad to hear that Dyan is in hospital at the moment...please send lots of good thoughts her way. She's a very special lady and hopefully will be on the mend real soon.

Dyan's new spray inks...they took quite a beating over the weekend! They are fantastic, the colours are so vibrant and vivid. If you don't have some, go get them - NOW!!

By late Sunday afternoon, people started heading off to catch trains or drive home after a weekend of painting, spraying, layering, spattering and stencilling.... Paul returned with Carter from watching Toy Story 3 and taking him shopping for the afternoon - he suggested a little gift for his Mum would be nice, so Carter chose a lovely necklace at Cath Kidston - how nice?!?

So that was the weekend! Will be back with more news soon (and anything I've forgotten to mention!) Hope you're having a great weekend! xx

It's August?!? Seriously?!?

Where did July go? It seemed to pass in the blink of an eye...so much happened - just had a look through the photos from the last month...it was busy!! But, even though I have loads to share, this will have to be a quick post. Off to Harrogate tomorrow morning and lucky enough to be attending the Dina Wakley weekend at Art From The Heart. Nervous and excited in equal measures and really looking forward to some time with Paul too. Still a few things to organise and pack before getting some sleep but wanted to drop into Blogland before I go...

365 Challenge

Thank the Lord for Post-it Notes...been jotting day to day activities down (and relying on the calendar and emails) to keep up to date with Kate's project. Determined to complete this but the school holidays have meant a little less time for my kinda playing (but lots more of the kids kind!) Getting back on track, so here's an update...

This is my June page - it does have writing on it now but I can't take a picture of it at the moment 'cos July's days are waiting to be stuck down...! Cut out a title last night (from a book of postage stamps) The stamps are cut out of vellum so you can still see the background and each Queen's head was traced onto the reverse and coloured in with a black pen.

Bit of a travel theme for July using Tim Holtz postmark stamps and cute little postcards that I downloaded. Still got a bit of work to do but it's almost there. As for August...I might just go minimum and use those Post-it's...!!

Would love to stay longer but really need to go and finish off... Promise to be back soon with all the news from Harrogate. Leave you with some of photos of our Glamping experience...

Happy days... xx

Life on the farm...

Spending this week in the heart of Wiltshire, on a lovely farm, enjoying the outdoor life...

Days so far have been spent collecting fresh eggs from the chickens, feeding a baby lamb, visiting the donkeys, riding on the tractor and getting acquainted with the new ducks. It's quiet, relaxing, rainy (can't have everything!) and the kids have total freedom to run around and explore. The food tastes better being cooked on wood burning stove, we're all sleeping more soundly with all the fresh air and there's nothing better than that quiet time once the kids are all asleep, sitting outside the tent with a cold glass of wine and enjoy the idyllic setting. Bliss.

Be back home soon to share news and photos but for now there's a gorgeous evening to enjoy...xx

Forgive me Bloggers for I have sinned...

Well, it's been a while to put it mildly! June was a really busy month with lots happening at home, school and Paul's new job but to be honest, my heart really hasn't been in it when it came to posting on my blog since the last entry almost a month ago. I've barely even looked at anyone else's blogs either and for that I apologise but now the kids are on holiday and things seem to have calmed down I thought I'd take some time to review the last month...

Molly was fine after her operation - she's certainly trying more words and there has been little differences in the way she pronounces things but it hasn't been the 'dramatic' difference that the doctor said it would be. She now sounds like Harry used to before he got his hearing aids so our gut feeling is that she has an underlying hearing loss too. Back to the ENT clinic on the 26th of August and Audiology are doing a hearing test that day too so we'll wait and see... Thanks to everyone who got in touch via text, phone, email, in person and with comments on the blog - it was so awful not being able to be there but you all helped me so much through the day. This is the little trike and trailer we got her for being so brave...

My social life is like a No.26 bus...nothing for ages then they all arrive at once! June was one of those months with lots nights out - a big thank-you to my Mum and Dad for being the best babysitters ever!! Here's a quick rundown in pictures...

Caledonian Ball, Caledonain Thistle, Aberdeen - a great night out every year. The best bit is the getting ready in the hotel room. we bring a load of food and drink and beautify ourselves for the afternoon while the boys go off and do boys stuff (this year they went mountain biking). We get a group photo taken, have a lovely meal, stop our other halves bidding for stuff at the charity auction then dance till we can't stand up anymore. Fantastic.

Before...

...after

...and after still!

Murder on the dancefloor...

Trend Magazine Awards, The Marcliffe at Pitfodels, Aberdeen - about a year ago a fabulous dress shop opened here in Inverurie. It's called Vanity and it stocks lots of small, up and coming labels as well as established brands like French Connection and Mina. Cheryl who owns the shop is so lovely and has such a great eye for what suits her customers. I love going in there - they are great with the kids while I try stuff on and everything I have bought there has been worn time and time again. Vanity was nominated for an award by Trend Magazine and Cheryl invited some of her customers who had supported her through her first year and I was so proud to be one of them. We had a fabulous night at the Marcliffe, all wearing Vanity dresses, and the icing on the cake was when Vanity won!! I think we were easily the loudest table there and we were all so proud of her for putting Inverurie on the fashion map! I only knew the girls from the shop and one other fellow customer but they were a lovely bunch of girls and we had such a great night.

All ready to go...

Cheryl with her award!

Mixology Lesson, Orchid Bar, Aberdeen - Michelle organised a girly night here the night after the Trend Awards (!) and it was so much fun. Ben, our teacher for the evening talked about the history of cocktail making whilst making us some amazing drinks. It was so good that I arranged to take Paul for a private lesson this Friday followed by a meal at a Japanese restaurant right across from Orchid - he deserved a special Father's Day present and this was perfect. We learned a lot (and drank a lot!) and afterwards went for a bite to eat then on to see Sex and The City 2...well, SOME of us went to see Sex and The City 2...!!!

Really looking forward to Friday after looking at those photos again - that had to be the best Cosmopolitan I have ever tasted!!

I'm going to sign off there for the moment...there's lots more to come but I think we need a break first!! xx