Tuesday 6 May 2014

Busy, busy, busy

My house is in uproar at the moment. Since my son Alex moved out a few weeks ago, we have been decorating and have just embarked upon a major project.....a new bathroom and bedroom. Our shower has been pretty rubbish for a number of years and the time has come for a new one. For those of you who know my husband Mark, you will instantly have guessed that he is tackling this little project himself. Me...I would pay someone to do it but Mark does love a project!!!

We have ripped out all the fitted wardrobes in the bedroom and completely gutted the en suite bathroom. I thought it would be fun choosing tiles and colours  but this little project is proving to be more of a challenge than we first thought. Everything we selected so far has been out of stock and we have had to compromise. We could of course wait 4-6 weeks for those out of stock items but that is not an option for us as we have already ripped everything out!!!

Even Meg the dog has been helping!!!



So with all of this going on, there hasn't been much time for creativity. I did manage to sneak out to my studio for an hour or two and had a play in my brand new 12 x 12 kraft paged journal. I'm loving this journal, I bought it from Leandra at Ally Pally. Wasn't sure about the size to begin with but now I don't know why I was worried.....it's fab!!!

I started with some odds and ends of paper and book pages, glued down with some matt medium. Added some Grunge Paste through a stencil and when it was dry, painted a layer of Stone Fresco Finish paint to blend all the elements together.

The before photo

Finished photo


Lots of layers of paint and Grunge Paste. Had a play with my new Inktense pencils for the first time too.


You can probably spot some Ellen Vargo stamps and some of my stencils.



Hopefully, it won't be quite so long before I have something crafty to share with you.

Lin

12 comments:

Susan said...

Love your journal pages, Lin! Hope you survive the remodeling! What a job!

Helen said...

That is a big project Mark's tackling... my brother does things like that too; sadly he won't do mine either! LOVE the big journal, what a great size - and these pages look fantastic.

Kath Stewart said...

Good luck with the DIY...beware it's a bit of a painting the Forth Bridge project xxx

Ruth said...

Lovely soft hues, beautiful pages. Good luck withe the DIY, it will be worth it in the end,

Jacqui Chimes said...

Lovely pages - we put off doing our bathroom for about 5 years (at least) - completed transformation a year ago - don't know why we waited its fab - sure yours will be too despite compromises

Anonymous said...

Beautiful muted colours on those kraft pages. Would make great bathroom tiles!
Margriet

Lin said...

LOL poor Mark..you are lucky to have him Lin...wish andy would knock a few walls down!! Love that journal!! didn't see thoses at AP..can't wait to see it IRL!! Beautiful pages as always...gorgeous choice of colours!! xxx

finnella03 said...

Good luck with the decorating. Love the journal page.

massofhair said...

Yikes, hope Mark enjoys the project and you will both be happy with your new look.

Fab pages, do love Inktense pencils especially on fabric. Must get that beautiful TCW word stencil it really looks amazing on the large page.

Hope you feeling fully recovered and raring to go. Take care:-) xxx

Rebecca said...

Pages are great best if luck with your other little project LOL
Happy craftin
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Good luck with the renovations, I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.......... :)
Your pages are so beautiful, every layer is perfect.

http://blog.timetocreate.com.au/ said...

Oh how I know that word compromise as we too struggle on another continent Lin to complete our renovation.
Keep your vision in your mind and on really grim days focus on one beautiful thing...ours was a light!
I like the gentleness of your journal page.
I keep looking at your lovely designs at Paper Artsy. They really should be over here in my shop.