Would you believe 'The Birds' will be 50 years old next year?

Hitchcock's The Birds, still an amazing film and as scary as ever - and it's also the inspiration for my latest circle journal entry.

This was a fun book to work in - it's in the Project Runway circle, and takes its inspiration from the show's film genre challenge.

Each participant selects a sealed envelope containing a card with a particular film genre printed on it - previous players have already tackled Western, Comedy, Romance, Film Noir, Musical, and the one I really wanted, Horror.  But I got Thriller, which would have been my tie second choice along with sci-fi, so I was happy with that.

And then our task was to incorporate a dress form into our page, showing the costume for our lead character.

My leading lady is immaculately turned out, but showing some signs of vicious pecking! :)

The background for this page uses watercolours for the stormy sky, a Crafters Workshop stencil for the trees, and the birds are all drawn by hand.

The back of our page is our sign in area , and we were to incorporate the card we drew from the envelopes, showing our chosen genre:

The background for this side is spray painted, and the bird was cut out from some handmade paper with flower petal inclusions.

This book is due to go in the post tomorrow (oops, I've just seen the time, make that today!), so I finished it just in time.

PS.  this is possibly the only Barbie doll I could be persuaded to own:

isn't it wonderful?  I especially love the bird pecking away at her forehead :)

Rocking Your World Friday - week 5

And it's Friday again. For once I'm not going to say "wow, that came around fast", because this week has been a looooong one. One of those weeks, if you know the sort.

But we're here to talk about the positives, not the negatives, and there have been many good points to the week too :)

First of all, last Friday, after writing up last week's Rockin' post, it was lovely and sunny so I went out geocaching in my lunchbreak. I didn't actually find a cache, but I did the groundwork for this multi (a multi cache is one where you have to solve various clues in order to discover the location of the final prize).

It was a really interesting walk, taking me through a lovely park that I've never found before, past a very pretty Gothic style church, and an interesting old pump. And finally down a street where apparently the archaeology TV show Time Team visited back in 2000 and dug up all sorts of interesting finds.

I have now got the co-ordinates for the final cache and will no doubt go out and find it some time, but even if I don't ever get around to it, I have already had loads of enjoyment from the clue gathering stage.

On Saturday I picked up my free Daylight lamp from the local Freecycler. It's just like the one I showed a photo of last week, if a little tattier looking. But I don't mind tatty as it works brilliantly and I have used it loads already, it is a godsend for winter evening crafting.

Also at the weekend, thebestboyfriendintheworldever gave me a brilliant pressie. It's a travel bug, which is a kind of token that you put in a geocache and it gets moved on by other cachers, sometimes all over the world. As it has a tracking number on it you can keep up with its travels. It's a nice way of virtually travelling to places you might never see in real life. But this is no ordinary travel bug and I'll probably keep it rather than putting it in a cache - because it is a gorgeous Haida orca! Just like the mother and baby on my back. Thank you Jay!

On Saturday evening Connor came to hockey for the first time in ages, and actually quite enjoyed it! (despite moaning lots that he wasn't going to).  I think the big punch up helped (Andre Payette, always a good bet for a scuffle to entertain small boys :) )

Sunday was the undoubted highlight of the week - we had a great morning geocaching around Charlecote Park in Warwickshire (where we found the super creepy skull baby)....

Then a flying visit to Stratford upon Avon (where many postcards and much fudge was purchased, and we went to Shakespeare's birthplace and met a giant Elizabethan teddy)...

And then we met up with my bessie mate Alison and her hubby Malc to go to see the Coventry Blaze vs Nottingham Panthers at the Coventry ice rink.  And Connor bumped into Scorch, his favourite hockey mascot :)

Other good things that happened this week:

• I completed my first month of the Project 366 challenge - to take a photo every day - I haven't missed a day yet and - so far at least - it's not even feeling like a chore.  You can see my year of photos so far here
• I've finished two of my 3 outstanding circle journal entries and the books have gone in the post - I'm working my way through that long to do list slowly but surely :)
• I heard from my son at Uni and he sounds really happy, he is in his second term of his first year and is really settling in now
• I found a great deal for a phone for my youngest, who is playing out a lot more now after school and is getting to the age where a phone would be useful.  It's only £7.50 a month and that includes a brand new phone, 250 minutes calls a month, 5,000 texts and 500 Mb data.  Bargain.
• This lunchtime by pure fluke I went into the post office on the day they got the new issue of stamps in, they only ever get one sheet per price point, and they are usually snapped up in minutes, so I was really lucky to be able to buy a good selection today of George V and Edward VIII.  The overseas postcrossers will LOVE them, they all go ga ga for royalty.
• And last but certainly not least - another pressie - my bro- and sis- in law are currently on their travels around the world - and today they sent me a present and it is sooooo coooool!!!! I LOVE my owl bag, thanks so much Si and Annie if you read this :) xx

 Now I'm off to Virginia's blog to see how the other Rockettes have got on this week.....

Where rock meets the movies.....

I've been a busy bee this week, working on this particular CJ every evening, desperately trying to get it finished by posting day (and as that was yesterday, I failed, ooops, but at least I'm not too late!)

This is Jasmine's journal in the Rock Resurrected circle over at UKScrappers, and her theme is a kind of rock music/cinema crossover.

The construction of the book is really unusual, but a lot of fun to work in, with a folded envelope making a pocket to decorate front and back, also a sign in flap, and there is also room to put an insert in the pocket.

This enabled me to work on three separate entries for this theme (which is why it has taken me all week :) )

 

First up, Jas suggested we re-imagine a Disney classic with rock legends in the cast - how could I resist Alice Cooper and Dee Snyder as Cinderella's ugly sisters?  (Before you lynch me, Carmen and Penny, I mean no offence to Alice - or Dee for that matter - I just think they would play the part with gusto!)

Not a great picture of the carriage (it looks better at full size if you click on it but still not great) - it's got pearlescent paint on it which catches the flash - but you get the idea.....  my favourite bit is Cinders' little rock hand :)  |m|

Next up, on the other side of the envelope pocket - my little tribute to one of the greatest rock movies of all time, the mighty Spinal Tap:

And yes, the volume knob does twiddle round :)

And here's my sign in on the back of the flap.....we all have a journalling spot to fill in, mine was "words that I think sound cool".....the outright winner?  definitely "plinth" :)

And finally, inside the pocket, this insert, telling the story of how I discovered the Seattle sound - grunge music - one of the longest lasting loves of my life - largely via the film Singles back in 1992.  Great film.  Amazing soundtrack.  

So that's all for rock at the movies....next month it's all about Linkin Park, am already thinking about my page....

Rocking Your World Friday - week 4

Well that’s another week gone – they seem to be going by everso quickly since I joined the Rockin’ Crew!

A fairly quiet week, but still with plenty of highlights:

The first thing that’s been rocking my world this week is Postcrossing – I’ve had an even better than usual postcard crop recently.

Last Saturday there were no less than three cards on my doormat, and they were all really cool ones.  One from Barcelona with a great photo of the Gaudi park (I’d LOVE to go there one day), one from Amsterdam featuring the (in)famous Bulldog café (I might have already been there, ahem, once or twice, a long time ago, back in my student days :)  ), and one from Germany with, rather inexplicably, an oil painting of a skeleton doing a pee :D

Also, not pictured, a few days later I received from the US a fantastic lenticular card of a 3-D eye which winks as you move the card.  Very very cool.  And a really fab roller coaster card too (my first ever from Australia).  And a card with a photo of a man balancing chairs on his fingertips, from a lady in the Netherlands who makes lovely ATCs who I'm hoping to maybe swap with.

You never know what kinds of postcards you are going to receive, or who from, it's certainly more fun than coming home to just bills on the doormat.

On Saturday night we were at the rink as usual watching ice hockey, and as the visiting team this week were the Basingstoke Bison, I got to see my pals Grant and Emily as that’s their team – always nice to bump into friends.

Sunday was the real highlight of the week, as we had a brilliant day out in gorgeous Glastonbury.  It was a cold (and mega windy, especially at the top of the Tor!) day but gloriously sunny.

For some time (almost a year) we have been gathering clues around Somerset to find a particular geocache, and the last piece of information we needed was atop the Tor.  So we climbed it.  Up the steepest side of the hill.  In a force 1000 gale.  It was certainly invigorating!!!  And with hindsight, insane :)

We climbed up from those little teeny houses

it was steep!

I got a real feeling of accomplishment from it though when I got to the top, as it’s rare for me to push myself quite that hard.  Next time, though, I’m going up the normal path that isn’t quite so vertical :D

Bit windy at the top!  Do you like my combover? :)

The boys had tons of fun running into the wind and almost standing still

After climbing the Tor we had a mooch around town, ate a delicious veggie pasty, and then found and logged the year long cache thanks to the final clue.  Hooray!

Monday I had a day off work – always nice :)  I used the time to ..... dramatic drumroll ..... FINISH MY SKETCHBOOK PROJECT ENTRY!!!!!! I can't stress how much of a big deal that is :)

Around Christmas time I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going to get it finished in time.  And that would have been a real waste, both of the entry fee, and more importantly of all the time I had already spent on it.

But then I decided I had to get my head down and get on with it, and get on with it I did.  And it went in the post this Tuesday.  Such a relief :)  Now I can get back to all the other things I should have been doing this month, like the pile of circle journals in the corner, and my sad neglected art journal....

Tuesday night I had an early night - first one in ages, I just tucked up with my book and was asleep long before midnight.  Bliss.

The remainder of the week was fairly uneventful, the two highlights being watching the King's Speech on Wednesday evening - wow, what a great film!

And sourcing a freestanding Daylight lamp for winter evening crafting from Freecycle!  for free!  (obviously, otherwise it would be called paycycle :) )

Please pop by Virginia's blog if you would like to read about everyone else's rocking weeks, or if you fancy joining in with us.  I can thoroughly recommend it - focussing on the positives gives you a nice warm glow :)

Back on the circle journal bandwagon

Gosh, it feels like ages since I last worked in a CJ.  Well, it was in 2011, and we're in 2012 now, so that's a year ago.  Kind of :)

This is my entry in Shirley's CJ in the "Artistic Licence" circle.  The artist she has chosen for us all to interpret is Victor Vasarely, a French-Hungarian artist who worked in the op art style.

I chose his painting Catch from 1945 to re-work:

It's a powerful image - like human yin and yang.

I've taken a few liberties with it, rotating the figures by 90 degrees, swapping the light and dark figures round, and injecting a bit of colour.  Sorry VV :)

The end result looks simple, but trust me, cutting out those two figures with my little Xacto blade so that they would fit together perfectly was anything but!  I think these two are attempt number three :)

Worth the effort though for the feeling of satisfaction when all those little sets of fingers finally fitted together like jigsaw pieces - hooray!

I think the next CJ is Van Gogh.....eek......pressure, much??

Sketchbook Project 2012 - "Along The Line"

And so it's finally finished - hooray!

This is my entry for the Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour

After nine months of slogging away at this little fella, I'm half just glad to see the back of it, and half sad that I have to send it away.

Anyway, it's halfway across the Atlantic now, but I scanned it in before it went - so here are my favourite bits:

I can't wait for the book tour to reach these shores, so I can go to visit my book, and meet some of its little sketchbook pals :)

Rocking Your World Friday - week 3

Gosh.  That week went fast! 

So here we are again, and it's time to round up this week's happy moments...

Last weekend there were smiles all round, as it was lovely and sunny.  I love Winter sunshine.  We went out for a fab (if rather cold!) walk and found a few geocaches, and along the way we discovered a little 13th century church, completely deserted, but open so we could have a good look round.

On the same walk we also found the remains of a medieval village called Richardston - not much left of it now but lumps and bumps in a large field, but it was fascinating to walk through where the village used to be, and imagine all the hustle and bustle (and the smells :) ) of the middle ages all around us.


As for the geocaches themselves, we only found two, but they were good ones - quality over quantity is our motto.

Sunday was Roller Derby day - woooohoooo!!!  I had been looking forward to this for ages.

This was the Swindon Rail Road Rebels' first ever game....not a full official bout just yet but a friendly scrimmage vs Oxford.  It wasn't open to the general public as they want to get a couple of friendlies under their belt before worrying about an audience, but I was lucky enough to be allowed in to take some photos.

And by "some", I mean around 700! Sadly 99% of them were blurry rubbish, though.  Close quarters, fast moving action is pretty hard to capture in a dimly lit indoor sports hall with no flash....  but by the end of the scrimmage I had got my camera settings pretty much optimised, and I'm hopeful of getting a better result next time.

These were a few of my favourite shots:

if looks could kill ;)

The game itself was incredibly exciting and fun to watch, I kept getting so caught up in the action that I forgot I was there to take photos - probably just as well as I would have ended up with 7,000 shots to sift through rather than 700 if I hadn't got distracted :)

Oh - and the final score?

Go Rebels Go!!!! :D :D :D

All the girls were really friendly, and I had a great time.  Can't wait for the next bout!


Redundancy woes continue at work, but at least all went smoothly for the young lady from my team who has elected to take voluntary - she wasn't required to work her notice and she seemed chuffed with that.  All was handled sympathetically, so that's good.  Or at least, less bad than it could have been.

On Monday evening I was watching this You Tube tutorial on space painting for beginners, and I thought I'd give it a go.

I was chuffed to bits with the results, not bad for a first attempt, eh?  (not that I can really take much credit, I just followed the steps in the video, and it just worked!)

The best part, though, was Darby's reaction when I showed it to him - apparently these "look like rocky terrestrial planets, though they seem to orbiting quite close to one another but thats not unheard of - though I would just have to say there shouldn't be quite as much debris between/close to the planets as per the IAU definition of planet they should have cleared the neighbourhood of their orbits of any small bodies" ....  ahhhh, the joys of having an undergraduate astrophysicist for a son :D

I'm still making progress with my Sketchbook Project book - in fact that's where the space painting ended up:

I only have one more double page spread left to do now, and the covers.  Phew!  Hopefully by next week's RYWF post I'll be able to say it's fiiiiinally finished :)

Also this week, for the first time in yonks and yonks, I had a little spend up on crafting supplies, with the last of my ebay proceeds.  I bought some bookbinding thread, charms, stencils and a few other bits and bobs from A Sprinkle Of Imagination....

It arrived beautifully packaged, both the white tissue paper and purple ribbon have been filed away for later use, and there were sweeties inside too :)  

Sweet retail therapy, how I have missed you!

(I need to sell more stuff on ebay so I can do it again lol)

And a couple more things that made me smile this week:

I found this book, that has been on my Amazon wish list for ages, in a charity shop for a quid, result.

And, very timely as I have been reading up a lot on printmaking techniques recently (I can smell a new obsession on the horizon, I'm SO faddy when it comes to arts and crafts, I wish I could settle on one thing and get good at it instead of all the flitting!) - there is a new print exhibition at the gallery near my work :

This was one of my favourites - a lino cut print with a little touch of gold leaf:

But there were tons of examples of all sorts of different techniques.

Loved it, definitely brightened up my lunchtime.

That's it for this week - see you again next time