Bikes, Mushrooms And Christmas In July

I missed blogging for a couple of weeks and I feel really bad about it. I’ve no idea where the time went except to say I wasn’t slacking off at all. Far from it, this week has been a little bit bonkers in the basement as at one time I’d actually got projects for Halloween, Christmas and New Year on the go all at the same time.  I suppose that’s a result of doing what I do in the industry I do and having to work ahead most of the time.  I also go away on holiday at the end of August so I needed to catch up quite a bit.

Well since I last wrote, the Summer holidays have kicked in and all those annual activities which make living here in Luxembourg a joy began, such as the day the main road through our village was closed to traffic except for bicycles. All 15km of it I think it is. As we live directly on this road we always invite friends over to join us and share our BBQ later on. It’s always a wonderful day and we love it. I do confess to have felt a bit sad though as I couldn’t take part with the others and had to watch them go off on their bikes. Instead Cooper and I took the opportunity to walk down the road and see the valley from a different angle.

The weather changed a bit too and after the intensly hot weather of June and early July the cloud and rain which arrived was very welcome. Strangly enough though it brought with it an abundance of mushrooms in the fields and forests which I do think is a bit early, for here anyway. My morning walks with Cooper have been combined with mushroom foraging and one walk turned up this beauty.

This morning my friend Kate who’s a brilliant forager went with me on a walk and we came back with this lot. Some of it I’m not too sure about but she tells me they’re delicious and if she’s still here to tell me that then it must be true.

This week I received  several packages of happy mail each one exciting for different reasons.

As it’s time for Christmas In July, I received a Special Edition Sweet Treat Box from Paper Pen and Plan with their Christmas goodies in it. It’s packed full of stuff and my Christmas Planner is all ready to go.

I’m going to be using this gorgeous rose gold notebook my sister in law gave me for my birthday. It’s perfect and I have to thank her and my nephew lots and lots for buying it.

My first page is decorated with my Christmas Elf.  I’ll show you how I use it in a later post.

Meanwhile also in the post I received a sketchbook which I’m particularly excited about. It’s from The Brooklyn Art Library as part of The Sketchbook Project.

The idea is you fill a notebook with anything you like, send it back and it’s archived in the huge sketchbook library in Brooklyn and taken on tour around the States. I’ve also taken out the option to have it digitized so my book will be scanned and each page can be viewed online. How cool is that? I’ll post here what I do with it so look out for sketchbook tours.

Well that’s it for this Friday catch up. Have a good weekend and I’ll speak to you soon.

Jaine x

Wednesday Update

The November issue of Craft Stamper magazine came out last friday 7th October and this one is a special gift making special for all those people who love to hand make little gifts for Christmas.

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In this issue I’ve contributed to the 3d challenge feature with a wooden frame I’ve given some mozaic treatment to.  You can buy the magazine here in the online store.

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As well as the frame, I’m also given a spot in the Cafe Chat page where I’m giving away two of my Town House stamps to a lucky reader, the Georgian House and the Row Of Houses.

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Have a good Wednesday what ever you’re doing.

Jaine x

Messy Monday in the Studio

What a crazy weekend it’s been here. Saturday we visited a balloon festival which was practically on our doorstep. We’ve been to this event before in Luxembourg but that was years ago. As well as the balloon competitions they were holding a fireworks and lazer show in the evening which we definitely didn’t want to miss. It was an amazing spectacle as you can see from these pictures.

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Brilliant night.

Sunday was just as full on but in a totally different way. After years of being nagged by the girls into getting a dog we finally caved in and on Sunday went to look at some gorgeous Australian – Shepherd – Collie puppy’s. It was love at first sight and we were all completely smitten by these little balls of fluff. We did decide on one though and in a little over a month this little ball of fluff will be coming to live with us. Isn’t he adorable?

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I’ve decided he’s going to be my personal trainer so this morning I took my bike out into the forest for an early morning ride. Just to get used to getting up early and going out as I think that’ll be my job.

As it’s Monday it’s back to the studio and I’ve actually opened the journal after many weeks/months.  I’ve missed it but I’ve been too busy to think about painting anything. This background was one which I had already painted ages ago (just goes to show what a great idea it is just to make backgrounds) so I just finished it off with my new Houses in a row stamp and some off cuts of patterned paper.

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I hope you had a good weekend too?

Jaine x

Monday In The Studio

I think I should rename Messy Monday to Manic Monday that’s how it’s felt for the past few weeks. After lots and lots of dental treatment mixed with a sinusitis, ear infection and struggling with weeks of deafness in one ear, things are starting to look up and I’m feeling a bit more like me again. Hey, yesterday I opened my journal and put some paint on the page and that’s not been me for ages.  Add into the pot some truly dreadful weather, not like Summer at all and a broken laptop thanks to a glass of water and I think the start of my Summer has been at times depressing.

Anyhoo it’s nearly July so things have got to get better, haven’t they?

Big big big news, I have my stamps all ready here to go in the shop. Woo hoo.  I just need to package them up and we’re good to go. Here’s a little peek at one of the sets.  I couldn’t resist having a little colour in.

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The August edition of Craft Stamper magazine came out last week and I’ve a card featured in the 3D Challenge pages this time. To be honest I’d forgotten about this one seeing as we work so far in advance for print so when it came it was a pleasant surprise. The whole mag this month is full of cards just to show that mixed media isn’t all about canvases and journals.

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As I said the weather has been absolutely apalling in June so every minute without rain was a minute spent out doors making the most of it. It’s always more enjoyable to take everything outside to work. The sun seems to make planning days much easier.

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Basement Studio also received a party commission last week to cut shapes to be used in table decorations for a Vegas themed party. I cut 400 shapes to glue onto 200 stems of wire  and wired up 100 playing cards. Plus they were all glittered too so as you can imagine there was glitter everywhere. It felt like Christmas.

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Hopefully I’ll get time to finish that journal page this week before next Messy Monday.

Have fun

Jaine x