WOYWW, art journal, and the Mediteranean holiday!

Hi my dear friends! 

I am a bit late posting but I had a rather busy morning and now I finally have a bit free time to do this post! I won't be chatting much - this will be a "photo post".....What will I be showing you??? Well as you all know I was away last week with my friend - we went to the seaside to stay in her daughters house - ahhh I love the Mediterranean....the skies are blue. so is the sea, the air smells of pine trees, rosemary and lavender with a bit of bayleaf on the side - what else do you want??? It can be so inspiring - especially if you are doing art! My friend was all into knitting whereas I decided to make a special present for my daughter - she doesn't read my blog regularly so I think I won't ruin the surprise! Anyway I was making an art journal / memory book for my daughter! This my first attempt at altering a book and using acrylic paints ( well not since I was at school) so you can imagine this was a big step for me! I did do my homework - I talked to the expert on mosh books Donna who gave a lot of excellant advice, I read up a little bit and watched a few videos about using acrylics...bought tons of stuff ( don't ask this month I will be on bread and water ) amoung other things I bought the new Kate Crane double DVD on Art journaling ( some very good advice there too) and well then I started - I took an old book from the library - that was soon to be thrown away I covered the covers in silk paper ( or tissue paper ), cut out pages so I have a bit of space to work my embelishments in - I gessoed the whole book then started with the acrylic paints and "first layer decor" stamps and other home made stuff ....let me show you a bit of my work and also a few photos from my holiday and not to forget my desk from this morning! Did I say this was a no chatting post....sorry!

Here come the photos......

My desk this morning.....

I am now in the fase of writing and decorating my journal so that is what you see on my desk....

Now let me show you my basic work.....

The covers......

And here are a few pages....

I have now stuck photos and other stuff on the pages but it still needs a lot of tweeking - please if anyone has some suggestions I will be very greatful....

And now a few photos from my holiday.....this is the view I had all day long.....

I could get used to that.....

The house we stayed in.....

the huge garden.....

the beach......you just go down the steps from the house and jump into the water.....

Me on the beach - taking a picture of yourself isn't really easy......

and my friend cooking.....

Al fresco dining.....

My friend knitting.....

And me doing my stuff.....

and an arty photo .....

Thanks for hanging in there!

Lots of hugs to all of you....

Cardarian