Jeudi Journalling - Include a Dog

Well, could have sworn I had scheduled a post for this.  At going up to noon I suddenly thought about it and went to have a look but nothing there.  Doh!  Got my silly head on again.  The forgetful one that is.  Here goes - another of my magazine cut up crazy figures

This time it looks as if she has a whole menagerie on her head and there is someone lurking in her pocket too.  Guess this is a lady who loves her pets.  Not sure if she should be Carmen Miranda with the head dress or who/what!

Thankfully this was done ahead of time but next week's topic has to be started and I have not a clue where to begin.  Better get this wool out of my head and put my thinking cap on.  See you then!

woyww 382

Well, first of all, Welcome to Ali, my newest follower.  Hope you enjoy your time on here and hopefully, before too long, I can have some interesting and varied stuff to show you.

Well, some of you know I had a brief stay in hospital and on Friday last I had to go back in for a procedure to be carried out.  The instructions given on going home were not to iron, clean, cook or anything over the weekend - so as you can no doubt gather I obeyed the instructions.  Especially as Chas was there when they were issued - directed at him actually (tee hee).  Felt a bit ropey as it was, so I just sat on the bed most of the time and had my crayons scattered about and did some colouring and slept a lot.

Now I can understand those people who enjoy the adult colouring books - which I had not "got" until this weekend.  Still don't think I will buy them, prefer to use my rubber stamps at the moment - and here are a couple of pages I have been playing around with using my new Tracy Scott stamps.

This first page was already covered in various colours of paint and then I had done a bit of stencilling on top with some Gesso.  One of Tracy Scott's new stamps from Stampotique, Lola, went centre stage and was coloured in with my lovely pencil crayons.  They are so waxy and blend beautifully, even mixing two colours together results in fabulous new shades and tones.  Love them!  Love Tracy's stamps too - they stamp amazingly and make for interesting colouring.

The second page of my square journal was just stamped and then coloured with the same pencil crayons.  This time I used George and Bella along with those gorgeous flowers and circular constructions that are part of the collection Tracy did for paperArtsy.  You may notice the stamps on the right hand side of the page look a little different.  These are some I got from Carabelle which had particularly taken my eye a while ago when I was at Wendy George's/Wheeler's on a workshop.

Much more interesting than my desk

which is not much different to how it was last week, except this time the book is closed and the pictures are finished.  The big book?  That is my journal I am working through on a Thursday with Wendy.  Incidentally, Wendy and I should have been meeting up for a long weekend including a trip to Port Sunlight.  We have decided to call it off as we don't really know how I will be with this back pain etc - just hope I can manage a few hours at the show as there are certain people I have never met who I would love to meet (are you reading this H?) and lots of people I have met who I would love to see again.

If you are wondering what else you can see on this Wednesday, why not pop along to see Julia at The Stamping Ground and see what fun she has on her blog, then get a cuppa and pull up a chair and have a browse around several deskers.  It's good fun, honestly - and you make some smashing mates!  The sort who really care about you.

Annie's Smiles

Last Sunday I was given something which certainly put a smile on my dejected face.  

Going back in time I should have been on a Seth Apter Workshop the other Sunday with a friend of mine.  I had done a quick workshop with him in America when I was at CHA in January and fell in love with the man, his techniques and his teaching.  So when I saw there was one in Harrogate with the man himself I jumped at the chance and talked my friend Lorraine into going along with me.

It wasn't to be, I was in hospital and so had to let my place go.  We had to cancel our 10 day holiday in Spain and I was disappointed but when I thought of the workshop I had cancelled the tears came  - that shows how much I wanted to go.  Crying over a one day workshop but not over a ten day holiday in the sun.

Well, Lorraine went along and she told him how disappointed I was and so he tore a corner from his demonstration piece and wrote a lovely message on the back.  I feel so lucky and cannot wait for his return next year.  (Incidentally, went to book his workshop in America for January and it is all booked up!!!)  I smile when I think of Lorraine and what she did for me, what a lovely friend she is.

Isn't that lovely

Well, by the time some of you are reading this I will be on my way to the hospital for tests and not feeling a very happy bunny at all.  Roll on tonight when it is all over.  Am having two "oscopies" one down and one up so that is not something to smile about, sorry Annie.

Will leave it there and concentrate on Seth Apter and his lovely gesture to get me through the afternoon.  Pop along to dear sweet Annie and see what she has - lots of smiles I will be bound.

Jeudi Journal

Well, according to Wendy I put the wrong page up last week. Apparently it should have been "Old Paper"which is what I am showing you this week.

Thank goodness I had already prepared this in advance as I haven't done much crafting again this past week having been in hospital and feeling tired the whole time since I came out.  I have to go back tomorrow for tests and am hoping they can sort me out then.

Here is my Old Paper Page, or should I say Pages.

Left hand side

right hand side

As you can see the Crazy Birds came out to "Party".

I found a piece of paper ages ago which was obviously old and told you how to cater for various parties.  What to serve and how many slices of bread etc to use and so on.  It tickled me to read it and I hadn't a clue what to use if for so when Wendy suggested this topic (Old Paper) I thought of using it in some way.

I split the various 'parties' and, along with some doilies, I used the Crazy Birds, trying to link them to the type of party.  You will have to click on the images to enlarge them so you can read them I guess. I do find the birds adaptable they fit in with lots of themes and I am certainly getting my monies worth out of them.

Hope you enjoy my pages as much as I enjoyed making them - now what is it for next week??????

WOYWW 381

Gosh these Wednesdays don't half seem to come around fast.  Mind you I have been doing a lot of sleeping.  Whilst I was in hospital I was given two bags of blood as they said i was anaemic.  Got to go back this Friday for some tests (Ugh) and hopefully they will find out what is the matter with me and put it right.

So once again my desk does not have a great deal to show.  But I did go out on Sunday with my friend Lorraine - to a workshop by the talented Tracy Scott.  Now Tracy is a favourite of ours (Lorraine and I) and we enjoy doing workshops with her  This time it was my choice and we did a journal page.

Forget my figure - Look at the background

We did lots of texture on our background - paper, different pastes, paint, stencilling and stamping. Tracy also taught a technique new to all of us and that was 'glazing',  I still need to do do some work on my page - the figure needs working on and I have to put some black and white pen work on the background.

Now all this is leading up to my desk because on my desk today are some stamps by Tracy both for PaperArtsy and for Stampotique.

The two stamp sets you can see in the background are from PaperArtsy and in my journal there are two figures, both Stampotique stamps with the other stamps around them and some Carabelle ones at the side.  I have another figure but she isn't coming out to play as yet.

I sat for a short while this afternoon colouring in the figures and just a little on the background with my Prismacolour pencil crayons.  That is about as much as I can manage at the moment - colouring in my stamped images.  My desk is NOT staged,  I found out that the best way to be able to access all my delightful colours is to have them out like this.  Aren't those pencils fab?

I might put some more background stamping on another day just so that I can try out more of my pencils.  Love blending colours together with them and it is so easy with these as they are waxy and soft.  

Mind you we did have a debate about pencils and apparently these have been superceded by Pablos and Polychromos.  Anyone out there have any preferences or any views.  I would love some feedback.  If I decide to buy some more another question would be do I buy a set or do I buy colours I tend to use a lot?

Well, this turned out to be a longer post than I imagined so I will leave you my friends.  I am going to catch up with one or two WOYWW'ers (firstly Margaret and Shaz who I mentioned last week) this morning whilst commenting on blogs.  I cannot imagine anyone not knowing what I am on about but just in case there is someone out there you need to follow this link to take you to a very inspirational lady and then link on to some of the names in her post so I suggest you put the kettle on first.

Before I finally do go may I extend a warm welcome to Felicia, my newest follower.  I suddenly noticed Maxine was not the last face in my list of followers.  Which reminds me I owe Maxine an email too.  Hopefully Felicia I can get some work done in the coming weeks.

Jeudi Journal

A real cheat this week.  Not had time to do anything with being hospitalised but already had this in my journal from when I did the weekend with Dyan.  She calls it the 'Stained Glass Effect' so it was an obvious choice but I intended doing something more around the figures.  As it is it just has a wee bit of white pen work and some stencilling.

Sorry you cannot hardly see the stencilling which I did in black on black using a stencil. Think maybe you should pop over to see Wendy and what she has done.  Am certain she will have more work on than I have this time.

WOYWW 380

First of all I have something to say about two of our regulars.

Margaret (Glitter and Glue) has lost her husband, John.  She wrote to me and this is an excerpt from her email which she said I could pass on to WOYWW'ers if I so wanted

"We are having a celebration of John's life on Friday 23rd September at 3pm at Emmanuel Christian Centre, followed by refreshments at the centre. The family are  having a committal earlier, so there will be no coffin in the church. John specified that people don't wear black. He is partying with Jesus, and did not want a morbid affair here on earth. We don't have an organ, but a band!!!  www.emmanuel-llandudno.org will give you the position of the church in relation to the town. There is a pay and display carpark just nearby and others throughout the town."

The other person is Shaz in Oz (Calligraphy Cards)  who was admitted to hospital on the 20th August with acute appendicitis.  Result burst appendix and peritonitis.  She has been very ill and I should have told you about this last week.  Although she is able to make a card now and then I am sure she would appreciate a little line of cheeriness and the odd prayer thrown in for her.  She really was very very poorly plus her dad was taken ill in the midst of all of this and he has now moved to a nursing home.

Me, well I have been in hospital - last week I went in Wednesday afternoon (sorry if I missed commenting on anyone) and came home after tea on Saturday because they were desperate for beds. They are no nearer sorting the problem out but they have changed my medication for my back and I am hoping once it gets into my system it will help a lot.

So my poor work desk has been neglected yet again.  It even has a catalogue on it:

and now a wall, as it has a bit of art on it

Hopefully a bit more interesting.  Note the Australian flag that Shaz brought me when she came over to Manchester.  The picture at the very top is one I did with the guy from Carabelle and next to it is one I did with Kassa at Art from the Heart.  Then we have the flag draped over something I made with Finnabair a long time ago, Henry Cavill (my heart throb) is next and underneath is a horse I once did myself and then a calendar and bits.

Yestetrday it was a lovely warm but often dull day.  But around 3 pm it did look as if it might rain at some time.   By 6 pm we were in darkness

This is the kitchen window.  Later we had the devil of a storm, and suddenly there was the biggest clap of thunder I have ever heard, sounded like it was on the front lawn.  All the lights went out and every bit of electricity failed.  Alarms were going off all around us and all our clocks, cooker etc, were back to 12.00 hrs.  I was glad when it was over.

It was so dark, as you can see with the view from the dining room window

No sign of the drive or the lane at the bottom.

Well, sorry there is nothing of interest in this post.  Hope you read the first two paragraphs about the others who need your thoughts and maybe a line to Shaz, and if you are near enough a visit to Llandudno.  

Perhaps when the drugs start working I will be able to get back to my art and my blog posts will become more interesting.  In the meantime please go and visit Julia and see what she has been up to, following links to other more interesting desks.  Toodle pip for now.  (I will have a journal page tomorrow but that is one completed before I went in hospital, thank goodness.)

Jeudi Journal

This is a scheduled post as I don't know what is happening with my bad back etc at the moment and might not get chance to post at the right time.

The topic for this week was Mushrooms or Toadstools, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  A pre painted page which was a double spread was chosen and I just used a Dyan stencil as a border down the edges and outlined in black pen.  

left side above

right side below

The toadstools and figures are all Dyans and the bumble bee and the sunglasses both have Glossy Accents on them.  I love mixing the figures with different bodies and heads etc so I really got a lot out of this, or should I say these, pages.

Wonder what Wendy has done?

WOYWW 379

Another week has passed by so quickly and here I am with another 'nothing on it' desk.  Not been so good and the back is playing up again so it has been another £105 to have it put into some semblance of order.

I did manage to do a card for my male 'bestie'.  I was hoping I had got the name of his little cat right and it turns out I had - so this was my card for Paul

I was not in the mood for doing a Distress Ink background and thought I would use my Brushos  but when I came to stamp the fish on the card some of them did not show up so I stamped them and cut them out individually (diecut I might add) and stuck them on by their tails. It did add a bit of dimension  to an otherwise flat card.

As I said, my desk has nothing of interest on it

if you look back it is probably not much different to last weeks.  So I am showing you a shelf which is high up above (my floating shelf) and packed full of stuff that needs sorting - and no doubt dusting.

If you click on it it should enlarge and you can have a rummage around.

Well that is it for this week, fairly short for Julia who is the Queen of Desking so pop along to her blog for tasty morsels of what she has been up to and what others are doing.

Annie's Friday Smile

One would think I had had nothing to smile about over the past few weeks as I never posted on here but truth is I have been so busy.  We have had a new kitchen done and so were in a pickle with half of my craft room as a kitchen and half of the study as my craft room.  In fact the extra table for crafting which is normally in the utility room is still in the study.  Complete with my sewing machine on it and some fabric I cut out a couple of weeks ago to make something - trouble is now I cannot remember what it is cut out for!

Anyway, today's smile is because I took some 'proper' sewing down to a lovely lady who I once had the fortune to meet in the flesh.  Almost a two hour drive but well worth it to see her and her little daytime companion who had a good chew on my fingers.  I am sure she will be telling you about the marathon pile of sewing I took her.  Have you guessed who it was yet?

Here's a photo of the two of us with someone else:

and the someone else is ... Milly

She was so excited that we could not get her to sit still but then we all get like that when we know we are going to star in a blogland production don't we.  And no, I am not talking about Annie, I mean Milly would not sit still.  [sorry Annie :)]

So I had a big smile on my face when I left home this morning for several reasons.  The sun came out the further we got from Bolton, the scenery was lovely as we drove down and then when Annie opened her door she had a big smile on her face which made mine even wider than it was.

Then I met this adorable excited little dog called Milly.  What a treasure she is.

After tea and cake we set off back for home and had a lovely drive, again in the sunshine - so that was and is my smile for the day because, guess what, I am still smiling - Annie has that effect on you.

Jeudi Journal - Heads - No Bodies

Well, the back pain is still raging so crafting is out for the moment. Consequently I have not done any more to the page I started for this topic.  Sorry.  I did intend putting some more stencilling on and was going to think up a suitable caption but it all has gone to pot.

This all started with the skull that I found in a magazine and decided to use it on a head, then the flowers just kept growing around her.  I am not sure whether or not the top (big red) flower is an actual flower or a skirt from a magazine.

I love messing up the things I cut from magazines, my other half thinks they are weird and last week I told you what little Chloe thought of them.

Did intend doing one of my painted heads (like the ones I am learning to do with Tracy Scott) but I have not even been able to start one. Hopefully the new medication will start to act and I can maybe get one done and add to here before next week.  Now what is next week's topic?

Wendy will put me straight if I forget so now I will go and visit her blog and see what she has done. Hope it is ok that I only did one despite the topic being in the plural.  Ah well, only Wendy to shout at me as it is just the two of us doing this challenge.