So recently I have been drawing Mandalas. It's all the fault of Barbara Owen ...... if you haven't watched her stream on YouTube then do so, she's a lovely, funny and very talented lady.
Anyway I resisted for a few years and just watched her streams, admiring her work, but I didn't need any more hobbies, and anyway I couldn't draw Mandalas so i just admired Barbs ....... but finally I gave in and one day I drew along with Barb. That was it, I was hooked!!
So here's a few of my first mandalas, these were done drawing along with Barb and after her streams.

Then I bought myself a Mandala template book and tried my hand at my own designs .......... and I liked them!

So I hope you like them too............... I'm off to draw some more 😉

Well it's been a very long time since I was here ....... so long I've forgotten my way round, LOL.
Time I started posting again. I don't make quite so many cards these days so a change of content I think. I'm more into playing around with markers, paints and coloured pencils these days. I love adult colouring books and enjoy art journalling (which I'm not very good at!), also love just doodling and my latest discovery? ....... I love drawing Mandalas.

I get a lot of inspiration from watching YouTube streams and also from Pinterest. I sometimes do copy things other people have done simply to practice and learn. I try not to copy exactly though. If I ever post anything on here that is obviously taken from an idea of yours I hope you will take it as the compliment it is meant as. However if you ever think I am copying you and want me to remove something all you have to do is contact me and ask. I never mean any offense to anyone. What I do I do for my own pleasure, I do not sell any of my work in any form at all.

OH DEAR !! OH DEAR !!

Well I'm further behind than ever, I haven't even shown you Septembers cards and here we are headed rapidly towards the end of October!!! Ok let's rectify that right now shall we? I only made 2 cards in September, one from each envelope. I've also done Octobers, 2 from each envelope so I did better.
Let's get on with the show then, .......... hopefully the pics will be ok, my scanner didn't want to work so had to use my phone!
Here we go then, September first .............

 This is from Pat's envelope ............ I think the theme might have been heat embossing but I'm not sure, well I've done a lot of things since then, LOL

This was from Liz's envelope and was probably stamping

Ok, on to October now ...............

So, first 2 are from Liz's envelope and the theme here was peel offs, long time since I've used them so was quite fun to do.

These next 2 are from Pat's envelope and I chose decoupage for them. The sunflower on the first and the butterfly on the second are decoupaged although it doesn't show too well here as I kept them quite flat.

So there we are, all up to date once again. I will try better in future to do things quicker, ............ no promises though, once my head gets into doodling or family history mode everything else goes out the window, LOL.

I AM SOOOOOOO BEHIND!!!!!!

Well talk about late, I'm so late it's not worth mentioning........... but I did!!!
I never even managed to blog July's cards although I did make them, but only 1 from each parcel. It was all my daughters fault, having reached 39 she thought she would try out her first "childhood" illness and went down with Chicken Pox! I have to admit she was very bad with it and I did all the right Motherly things, looking after her, tempting her to eat, worrying over her ................. well I did until i found she had passed it on to me! As I'd had it as a child I was even less amused, LOL. Luckily by then she was feeling well enough to take over the nursing duties, ........... good job too cos I can tell you now that getting it as an adult is no fun at all !!!!!!!!
So July basically escaped me, August wasn't far behind as I tried get some energy back and catch up with myself. I had to make my cards alone as Liz and I didn't manage a crafting day but luckily this month had a theme rather than techniques ......... and that theme was Christmas.
I made 4 cards, 2 from each parcel (although I may well make more in time) so without any further rambling from me here they are ...................

Firstly from Liz's parcel 2 fairly simple ones but I liked them both.

Then from Pat's parcel again 2 fairly simple ones, and again I like them but I have to admit the red one is my favourite of all. 

So there we are, finally I have August done and dusted. I can't even remember what we are doing this month (September) so I'll have to find my parcels and check that out, at least I've caught up!

BEACHY HEAD & CUCKMERE HAVEN

Some pictures from a day out with my daughter when we visited 2 local beauty spots.
First Beachy Head ................

And now on to Cuckmere Haven ........... 

WE LET THE MONSTER OUT!!!!

The monster is Jaffa, me daughters 1 year old ginger cat ........... she doesn't like letting cats out much as we are close to a small but fairly busy road and in a flat, if we had our own garden it would be a little different, ............ and this one seems to find trouble without looking!!
But she let him out the other afternoon, she went down to the yard with him, ... I went along with my camera!!
After having a look around and taking in the various smells Jaffa headed for one of the trees ............ and shot up as far as he could go!!!!!! He then realised he was still nowhere the birds he had his eye on .............. and he had no idea how to get down!!!! For about half an hour he went back and forth among the branches, slipping, hanging on for dear life at times and looking down at us for help ............. we called and encouraged (and giggled at his antics) and eventually he worked it out, well sort of, and with a slip, a slide, and a rush he made it back to the ground .........

Hey look at me, I'm can climb right to the top ....

Hmmm, it's not quite as easy as I thought ......

Where do I go now?

I'll just rest here and enjoy the view ....

Ooooops!! I don't think this is quite righ!

This is not doing my street cred any good at all ............ Heeeelp!!!

Well it was my first attempt and I did get down all by myself ......... eventually!!!!

Bloomin' June!

Half way through the year already ....... doesn't seem possible.Where does the time go?
I must be getting used to our technique challenges as I found this months a lot easier, LOL. I used Decoupage for Pat's parcel and Die cuts for Liz's and managed a total of 5 cards.
So on with the show and first up the cards from Liz's parcel ......

Both very simple cards, loved this picture as it reminded me of my childhood and picking bunches of bluebells to take home for my Mum and my Nan

This one was even easier as I just put a greeting on a tag and added it to the paper Liz had included!

So onto my parcel from Pat now ...........

I used the paper from my parcel with the decoupaged gardening bits from my stash

Although only a little of it shows the blue background paper was from the parcel and the rest from my stash

Again I used the paper from my parcel with bits from my stash

I'm quite happy with this months makes which is unusual as there is usually at least one I don't like much after I've made it, LOL