Been away for while...

I'm on a visit to my family down in Sutton at the moment, and basking in the glorious weather that the South East are currently enjoying - it makes such a change from constant rain! I managed to see my Grandad again while he came for a visit which was great as normally I don't get to see him for months and now I have seen him twice in the space of a few weeks. I managed to get a few pictures of him this time too. I've been out shopping with my mum, I've caught up with my brother, and I've felt sorry for my sister who has glandular fever and has been ill in bed all through the sunny weather poor thing!

I have actually scrapped my pages for My Freedom too as I bought my scrapping supplies with me, but I want to wait until I'm back home to scan them in and share them. So for today I'm going to share a page I made with some Kelly Panacci papers for the Papermaze blog, and catch up with missed blog prompts.

The papers for this page were lovely to use - I used a black fineliner pen to doodle around some of the images for added definition, and created the title by drawing around BG monograms and adding small cut out strips of paper for added interest.

So, to the missed blog prompts, the first one I missed asked if there was something we would like to pass onto the next generation. Now there are all kinds of things I would like to pass on, but being a teacher and witnessing what childhood today is like in comparison to my own, I think I would like to pass on the imagination that my childhood games entailed and encouraged, as we did without computer games and spent hours creating our own stories and scenarios. Much as the internet and computers are an amazing development which improve our lives in many ways, I sometimes feel like something has been lost by our reliance on them.

The next prompt was to talk about an artistic technique which we love but perhaps do not use often or it intimidates us. I suppose an artistic technique which I would like to try but haven't really had a go at yet is collage. I love looking at the work of others but its either too far from my own style or looks too complicated for me to really give it a go. Another technique (though I'm not sure its exactly a technique) is 'white space' - the use of large areas of space on layouts. I have a tendency to fill up all available space (usually because I've got a lot to say and fill it up with journalling strips!), and a half empty page just doesn't seem complete. But others use white space so effectively, I'd love to try it more.

My favourite treat as a child is an easy blog prompt. My mum used to work overnight at a care home on Friday's and Saturday's when I was a little girl, so my dad looked after us. Me and my sister would both go to bed at the same time, but I would always wait for her to fall asleep, then I would get up and go downstairs to join my dad and we would watch 'The Price is Right' on television together. He always made sure he had bought a big bag of Golden Wonder Cheese and Onion crisps for us to share too. I loved this time together with my dad - it was my treat of the week! My treats today are a bit different. I suppose one would be Fry's Turkish Delight bars eaten straight from the fridge. Another treat would be a meal out with my family, particularly to the Thai restaurant in Sutton which we all love. And sometimes, the best treat is just a day to myself drinking tea and watching box sets of my favourite period dramas such as Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House. I have noticed that a lot of my treats involve food. Clearly I haven't changed much over time!

And finally, today's blog prompt was to tell about a person who influenced my creativity. This one is easy. My nan was a massive influence on me and got me into all kinds of creative pursuits. She taught me to knit, cross stitch and embroider, and I still use the box of embroidery threads she bought me and put aside for me and which my Grandad found and gave to me after she died. Nan used to make up stories and use to write poems, which she wrote down in little notebooks. She was a clever lady, but most of all she was a real eccentric, a one of a kind and a completely unique person. I missed her terribly when she left us, and I'm always sad that she never saw me embrace this hobby because she would have loved it.

Anyway, a little sentimental for today, but my next post will hopefully be sharing more eye-candy as I upload my pages for Serious and Playful.