Friday 29 March 2013

Artful Readers Club - March



This month finds us in Canada, in the provinces near Montreal.

"A Trick of the Light" is book 7 in the series featuring Inspector Gamache and his team from the Surete du Quebec.

The story is centred around the village of Trois Pins (Three Pines) and the art world in Montreal.

It starts at an art show in the Musee d'Art Contemporain in Montreal, the first show for Clara Morrow, a middle aged artist who lives with her husband, Peter, in Trois Pins.
This the first shock in the novel as it was Peter who was considered the more talented and more famous of the two.
The second shock is the discovery of a body in Clara's garden the next morning.
The body turns out to be an ex-friend of Clara, a woman who made enemies by the dozen in her role as an art critic.
Part of the puzzle is how she found Clara's house as the village does not appear on any maps....people find it either by chance or by having detailed instructions.

So there you have it....a murder mystery with lots of motives and suspects.

What makes this book stand out in a crowded genre is the quality of the writing. Louise Penny writes with elegance and depth.
Her characters are rounded, and all too human, with the petty vices common to us all.
She explores relationships and the little secrets that remain hidden, even between husband and wife after over 20 years of marriage. Secrets that have the power to destroy as they take on more significance over the years.

What really makes the series for me though are Penny's descriptive powers. I've been hooked since book 1 "Still Life" (come across by chance). I found myself smiling and feeling warm inside as I read. It took me a while to figure out why.
I had a perfectly formed picture of the village in my mind, I could imagine it existing, I wanted to live there.

Penny's descriptions are, quite simply, lyrical.

I've done another collage this month, inspired by the village:


Thanks to Cloth-Paper Scissors for the tutorial by Kristen Robinson on layering.
The paper is Canson mixed media prepared with gesso and acrylic paints. The picture, the flag and the printed papers are from old books, the token from Tim Holtz says "Listen", the Art with everything stamp is by Chocolate Baroque.  
The final touches were bubble wrap circles and a butterfly stamp by La Blanche.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 23 - 26

Day 23 - Past injuries....



Day 24 - Pets: Past and Present....


Day 25 - When faced with a tough decision I ....



Day 26 - This time last year I was....



I've been playing with my Gelli plate again but can't show the results as I'm using the prints to make tags for our FB group meeting at Ally Pally next month.....I'm sooooooo looking forward to meeting my cyber friends in person...yay!!

Over the weekend I'm going to be blog hopping to catch up on all your latest posts....

Saturday 23 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 21 and 22 plus a LO.

Day 21 - Today's weather reminds me of....



....certainly not Spring, that's for sure!

Day 22 - Road trip playlist....


....a mixture but all very loud and easy to sing along to!

The Barbra Streisand is "our album"...I bought it for DH and we used to play it every Sunday as he drove me to King's Cross for the train home (we lived apart because of jobs for the first 9 months of our marriage)...I could close my eyes and know exactly where we were on the A40 by the song that was playing.



And now for my latest LO....untitled as yet....another nature photo...


This is for a stitching challenge on Flying Unicorn.
The papers are by Grace Taylor (for Grant Archival)

I'm now off to do some proof reading...hoping to start my Ally Pally tags this evening.

Thursday 21 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 19 and 20

Day 19 - in the next year I will....



Day 20 - I do not regret....


Last night I made a start on a new LO....just need to embellish it....

It was so relaxing to sit and sew on it with one of the music channels playing...mindless pleasure!

Tuesday 19 March 2013

30 Days of Lists- Days 17 & 18


Day 17 - my biography would include tales of....


Day 18 - so far this year I....


Sunday 17 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 15 & 16 plus an altered frame

Day 15 - ways I save money....


Day 16 - this month's soundtrack....



Both of these lists were "problematic".... day 15 because I really am hopeless with money.
Day 16 will have the boy in despair....he reckons my musical tastes are going downhill....and will probably get me drummed out of the Headbangers' Union....lol!"


Finally.....here is the charity shop frame ....




Day 14 is still not done....it's about my "role models".....

Thursday 14 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 11 - 13 (and today's project)

Day 11- things I do every morning....



Day 12 - things I do every night....



Day 13 - My Causes....



Theoretically Day 14 should be here as well but I'm still pondering the question..

Below is a frame that I picked up for £1 in The Shaw Trust shop......hopefully by tonight it will look completely different....actually, it already does, but it's not finished yet....



Sunday 10 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Day 10 & Two Challenges in One

Day 10 - I am craving....




The extra challenge at Scrap Club was to use the same design but with a totally different theme.

I recently bought some 1960's black and white photos on ebay   - beautiful shots of birds and butterflies (and some horrible ones of ants....shiver)....I hadn't realised the size of them and was expecting 6 x 4...they're 10 x 8 so need cutting down for most LOs.



I used the first photo last night with Graphic 45 "Bird Song" papers - well, it did seem appropriate!

I used lots of flowers etc for the "Embellish It!" challenge on Flying Unicorn.


I then encountered a major problem.....I have absolutely no idea what the bird is...and have no real way of checking as the photos are b & w.

D. thinks it's hilarious that I'm using unknown birds....I'm running out of family photos and wanted to try s'thing different.
Asked what he thought of the finished article, the reply was.."Too many flowers for my taste. You can tell a woman made it".
Well......duh!!

Finally....
Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

Saturday 9 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 8 & 9 plus Secret ATC Swap

Day 8 - Comfort Food....



Day 9 - On my "oughta do" list....



I'm taking part in a secret ATC swap on Flying Unicorn....mine are currently mid-journey but here are the ones I received yesterday from Donna in USA.....


Donna had even made a beautiful box to hold them...you can see it at the top of the photo.

And finally....for those who missed it on FB...here is the result of me watching an Andy Skinner tutorial, then playing with my Gelli plate, acrylic paints and stencils...


Apparently I don't have to cook tonight.....don't know where I'm being taken but I'm sure the food will be lovely....

Thursday 7 March 2013

30 Days of Lists - Days 5, 6 and 7 plus Scrap Club


Day 5 - Things I would like to do/accomplish by the end of the month....




Day 6 - My Talents....



Day 7 - In My Bag....




Yesterday I managed to get to Scrap Club - the theme this month was "Childhood Memories".

I went armed with the photo album that my Mum kept for me..and this is the result....


We used sequin waste and distress inks to decorate the background. I got a bit carried away with my paper tearing so the middle layer of cardstock is somewhat smaller than it should be.
We made a window in double sided paper to frame the photos and then embellished with buttons, ephemera, flowers, stamped images and buttons.

I still have my journalling to finish - that will be on card hidden behind the middle layer.

I'll be back over the weekend with more lists....

Tuesday 5 March 2013

30 Days of Lists Days 3 & 4 plus PIF mail

March seems to be passing by as quickly as February did....ah well, "Castle" will soon be back so that's a positive....Nathan Fillion...sigh..

Day 3 - This week I am going to....




Day 4 - On an average day I....




And this is the awesome canvas I received yesterday from Rachel in Canada as part of  Pay it Forward 2013....



It survived the trip in one piece and quite cheered me up!

Saturday 2 March 2013

30 Days of Lists (Journalling Challenge) Days 1 & 2

March already and time for the 30 Days of Listing Challenge.

I decided to use the Simple Scrapper kit that was produced just for this challenge.

Photos 1 & 2 show the front and back covers of my journal.....it took longer to remove and replace the wire than it did to decorate...







Papers are from the Pebbles Inc "Seen and Noted" 6 x 6 pad. The title was done using my box of leftover alphas. 
Brads by Basic Grey "Two Scoops" (front) and Eyelet Outlet (bird)
Arrow (and other stickers throughout the journal) are Studio Calico "Hearts and Arrows"

Day 1....I am a lister because....



Day 2....About me....


The numbers are Pretty Little Studio Number Tags "Bingo"


I'm looking forward to some deeper journalling as the month progresses.