Solstice

I was talking on a Yahoogroup about how it's really light in the evenings here at the moment. I'm in Northern England and even at 11pm it isn't fully dark. I love it - I suffer from S.A.D. and I find it motivating to have it light in the evenings - it keeps me active for longer.

This time last year we had relatives over from Florida, my mum's cousin Daphne and her wonderfully named husband Charlie Brown, and they were saying how novel it was that it stayed light and how jealous they were. I would be jealous of their sunshine and pool, but there we go!

Here are some photos from 10pm - yes, ten at night - on June 21st, Summer Solstice.

I think it's so beautiful :)

Yesterday's mail

Yesterday's mail was just so colourful I had to take a photo. A candy swap from Swapbot - I got lemon sweets and hard candy things with chocolate in the middle, a letter from Lauren all covered in pretty with Katherine Hepburn stamps! and a letter from my friend Nathaniel on very sweet paper :)

Art Journal #1

I've been keeping a paper journal consistently for about five years now. I'm proud of them! But I recently decided I needed to keep an art journal too, one that was especially for art and not many words, for paint and glue and CREATING. I finished it! I am really really proud of myself. Below are a few pages. Do ask if you have any questions.

Panic at the Disco lyrics on the left, I've edited the writing on the right, but the background was drawn with burnt matches.

I like drawing rainbows :)

The left hand page is one of my favourites.

This is the very first page :)

A weekend away

Last weekend I went with my mum and stepdad on their church retreat. I know a lot of the people through them, even though I don't attend the church myself. (Or any, come to that.) It was in Whitby which is by the coast in North Yorkshire. These are a few photos.

Handmade envelopes

I made this envelope from a vintage beer advert calendar that I picked up in Paperchase on sale. This envelope went to my friend Chloe. Isn't it immensely tacky?

This was a lovely letter from Bianca. Feel free to write to me, by the way ;)

Made from a comic calendar, I love these envelopes so much. I believe this one went to Lauren in Florida.

Journal page

Page that went into my art journal. It was done on old sheet music, gessoed and then stamped with the heart stamp. Then I cut out the heart image and the small foil heart. I stamped the words, covered with embossing powder and heated with the heat gun. This crinkled the foil heart somewhat, but I think it adds to it :) When I stuck this in my journal, I painted grey around the edges. The colours aren't great in this photo, sorry.

Stationery swap

This was what I received in the stationery swap that Megan held. My stuff came all the way from Pip in Australia. I love it all, it's all so colourful and sweet :)

On the day that this arrived from Pip, I got so much mail it was amazing. This is what I got:

A very good mail day!