Autumn Love.....

I've never really liked Autumn.
I'm a true fan of Summer..... sunshine, sea, sand, shells....all those s words bring joy to my heart.
But I'm mellowing with age I guess and I'm learning to appreciate the pleasures that Autumn can bring....and I do genuinely love a bright, blue-sky Autumn day.
Above is a digital collage I created last year but didn't put on my blog. The supplies are by Anna Aspnes......I love her stuff.   It's a photo of Dale Abbey; a village not too far away from us and one of our favourite places for walking. We have others; Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, Shipley Woods near Ilkeston, Curbar Edge in Derbyshire, the Chatsworth estate....... to name but a few. We intend to do more walking and Brian and I have both just bought new Berghaus walking boots...

Their first outing was on Monday ....walking to the top of Beacon Hill in Charnwood Forest.
No blisters yet!

Well, the end of this week couldn't be more different from the beginning.....today is rather dull and wet, but that means I can work in my artroom upstairs.

On the left is a pile of prints from my Instagram gallery that I've just had done at Lalalab (an iPhone app). I'm so pleased with them; the colours are perfect. I used two of them for my latest collages that you can see on the table. Trouble is, they are glossy....which isn't ideal for my work.....I found I was getting smudges on them and bits of glue (I'm a messy worker ;-). So I tried an experiment.

I always coat my collages with acrylic wax when they are completed....it gives a lovely finish and protects the paper and fabrics. It isn't really like wax; its more like a cross between a matt varnish and pva glue.....but it does a great job. So, I plucked up the courage to coat the glossy photo with it....thinking it might possibly remove or smudge the ink and be a total disaster......but no; it was perfect!
Below you can see the before and after......on the left is a photo without the wax.....on the right is the completed one. The photo is now more flexible and has a nice matt finish.
Result!
As you can see, I get my acrylic wax from Art Van Go. Good stuff!

This one isn't quite finished; a few more seed stitches and tiny brass sequins to go. 

That's it for now.....time to learn more about Lightroom  (I'm working through the Lightroom Begin workshop by Kim Klassen....see sidebar)  I'm getting there.....

I'll leave you with one of my Instagram images.....

A Belated St Ives Part 2

The past two months haven't been amazing health-wise. I keep losing my balance and I become disorientated  and sometimes dizzy. I bump into things and seem to do a lot of curtseying to compensate for my wobbling.....when we go out I tend to hang onto my husband so people won't think I'm drunk :-(
I have an appointment at a Balance Clinic at Derby Hospital in three weeks; hopefully they will be able to tell me what's causing it (and whether its connected to my other health problems).

I promised more photos of St Ives so here they are. I don't want this to be a wordy post so I'll just add a few for each one:

I always say that St Ives is beautiful no matter what the weather.....we spent a happy hour in Caffe Pasta watching the rain one day. I love the way it gives the buildings a soft, muted appearance.

St Ives harbour beach....Caffe Pasta in the centre of the photo....

 There were some special high tides whilst we were there, such fun to watch and dodge. 

Porthminster Gallery is on the left.......probably my favourite. 

They usually have some work by Matthew Lanyon there.

 Houses on the beach. Wonder how they cope with the high tides!

The famous Sloop Inn. Had a few drinks here....

The view from our little balcony.

 The Seafood Cafe....great fish soup!

 The Digey Cafe......another favourite coffee shop just around the corner from the house where we stayed (you can see pics of the house in my previous post).

Surfers on Porthmeor Beach.

Porthgwidden Beach. Gorgeous early in the morning. There's a coffee shop at the back with a deck.

And finally.......a few little glimpses. 

Brian's whitebait starter at The Seafood Cafe.....coffee and cake at Caffe Pasta.....a scarf I bought in Seasalt....the famous shabby door a few yards from the house where we stayed.....my collection of St Ives treasures.....daffodils and an honestly box by the harbour.....gorgeous soup for lunch at The Digey Cafe.....and the all important warning about the gulls! They are so naughty....

As I'm unable to sit and sew at the moment I've been doing some digital scrapbooking and moodboard stuff . I post most of my work on Instagram these days.....

 I recently read this book (above), recommended to me by Sarah at Paisley Rain Boots. 

Its wonderful.......if you get a chance - read it.

.

(Most of my digital supplies are by Anna Aspnes and Katie Pertiet)

Occasional Blues.....

New name....new start!

Why 'Occasional Blues'? Well, I wanted to keep some kind of a link with my previous blog name and, although my tastes have changed, it goes without saying you'll still be seeing some shades of blue here :-)
And there's also the fact that I've been experiencing 'the blues' off and on over the last couple of years (and that will probably continue as I don't have a miracle cure yet). More of that later.
But I really had to get rid of the word 'girl'......... hardly appropriate as I approach my 63rd birthday ;-)

So what can you expect to see here should you pay me a visit?
There'll be lots of photos.....mostly altered in some way.
Moodboards and mosaics.
My little paper and fabric collages.
Healthy recipes and tips I've picked up over the last couple of years.
Rants about my health.....I'll keep them short.
And tales of my travels.
Talking of which....I'm off to St Ives very soon. And we're going on the train! I can't wait.

My aims:

• to keep my posts short and frequent
• to be honest about stuff important to me. Be warned....some of it may be controversial ;-)
• to share any creative tips and ideas I can come up with
• to also share interesting stuff I discover on other blogs and websites (I'm an avid reader of health and lifestyle blogs)

Next post.....the reason why I've been such a rubbish blogger over the past year. 

And some new needlecases.

I'll leave you with a recent piece of digital scrapbooking.... 

.... a photo taken with my favourite iPhone app - Hipstamatic

....and a lovely recipe from one of my favourite health bloggers 'Oh She Glows'...... a Happy Digestion Smoothie! I need this today.......