Jeudi Journal - Halloween

Well, it is official - nearly time for the witching hour - and we get an extra hour in bed so can miss some of the 'ghoulish goings on' that will be taking place.

Did intend doing a great page of painting but back not allowed me the time to do that so having to make do with an already coloured page with a bit of black paint on it.  The witches are courtesy of Tando as I sent for them and intended doing something new with them for Halloween.  Instead I just bought a new red bottle which has Dragons Blood in it (ha ha) and drew around the witches.  

Have got my display done for the Trick or Treaters calling - posting a picture.  Now though to the journal page - double spread this time.

Who knows I might do another page later - before the 31st anyhow.  I have visions of gates, pumpkins and a witch flying by.

The window display is looking a bit tired.  Could not be bothered with all the green jelly-like parts for my skeleton and not a clue where I put them last year so they remain in the coffin and I think the Evil Chemist to the left needs replacing with another face so that it is a little different to the one to the right of the window.  Got just the stamp in mind - maybe by next year!

and to the left of the window we managed to get the Witch from Prague settled.  Mind you it does not take much to get her cackling and with her eyes flashing - sorry no video.

So that is it for today.  Bought two new heat pads for my back, both with different purposes, and now read about something else which I am checking with my cardiologist is really safe to use when you have a pacemaker fitted.  Things are looking up - fingers crossed.

See you over at Wendy's place for her page(s) which I bet are super duper!

woyww 386

First of all can I offer a big Welcome to Sylvia for joining my followers.  I hope you find some things of interest on my blog as time goes on.

Well, another week has gone by and nothing to show craftwise on my table.  I did however, have a friend call down yesterday and she wanted to see the MISTI in action so we did a Peony and she made a card for her son with the Flamingo on it.  The reason for making the card for Gary was that he is funding her purchases of a MISTI and some stamps to do the triple stamping with as her Christmas present. He likes to buy her a crafty gift but by now she has die cutting machines aplenty so I suggested she had a look at this stamping aid.

Margaret was sold!  I hope Gary is!  This is my desk this morning - nothing put away although the stamps were cleaned and put on their backing sheets.  A job for now I guess.  Blame it on my bad back.

I am going to show you my worktop in the kitchen because I have some amazing flowers on it that a friend and her husband sent to me to cheer me up.  I loved the autumnal colours but some of the flowers really blew me away too.  I thought the little white roses were artificial until I touched them - they were real.  Can you see the unfurled ones?

Some flowers I had never seen before

Anyone know what these two orange flowers are?

I just loved the whole display, the leaves were as shiny as shiny

and the Chrysant was beautiful

Sorry Julia, I just got carried away

Love flowers, love autumnal colours

Now, I am off to see what the Queen of Deskers has got on her blog today and then have a morning relaxy vous looking at what others have been up to this week.  See you there!

Annie's Smiles 192

Some of you may be aware that last week I went to Llandudno for a couple of days having broken my journey down to call in on the Queen of Smiles, Annie herself.

Whilst in Wales I also called to see Margaret whose husband had passed only a few weeks ago and whose "Celebration of His Life" I missed because of being in hospital.  Dear dear Margaret had put a little package together for me to remember John by and I now have a lovely pyrography keyring that he made and a copy of the Service for his Celebration.  Each time I look at the keyring I smile, remembering gentle John, and so I am sharing my smile with you all.

As you can see, i got lots of other goodies too, ribbons, card, handmade paper and some beautiful decorated cards.  A very thoughtful pack of goodies which I will enjoy and think of Margaret and John each time they are used.

You may have seen the photograph of the "meets" when Annie was joined by sister Jo and Margaret was joined by Mrs D.  If not you just have to scroll down a little and you will see us all smiling away at you.

Well, there was lots to smile about over those three days as we visited Conwy and Bodnant Gardens on our first full day there. Those gardens are magnificent and well worth visiting (especially at the end of May when the Laburnum Arch is in full swing).  I will share a few pictures with you

White Rabbit Statue on West Shore

Unfortunately we were not able to take photographs of all the Alice statues around Llandudno because of time restraints but it does rather leave it open for another trip down there (and delicious food at Margaret's Church).

looking across the estuary (see the gull)

Looking across the estuary towards Deganwy

The following photographs are all from Bodnant Gardens (October)

Waterfall

Colours of trees

This tree trunk fascinated me

Fountain

This eucalyptus really stood out

We spent ages at the Bath as the flowers were so pretty and there was just so much colour plus there were lots of goldfish in the water.

Cannot leave it there without a look at the magnificent house and the view that the people who lived there must have had.  Imagine waking up each morning to this view.

and the hall itself

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of Wales and I did not bore you with all the photographs.  There were lots more but I just chose a small selection.  Now I am off to Annie's to see what she and the others have had to smile about this week.  See you there!

Jeudi Journal - Black & White/Tangling?/Dylusions Again

Thank goodness I had most of this page done in my journal - just had a couple of squares to do some tangling on and it was completed.  I had originally thought of doing another one with the stencils of the male or female figures and then doing some journalling around them with some patterns like the one I did earlier but my back has precluded me from doing much in the way of crafting and so that one has had to go on the back burner.

Still, I rather like this one and it is different to my other journal page. Hope you like it too.

Now to pop on over to see what Wendy has done for her Jeudi Journal Challenge.

WOYWW 385

Well, last week just sped on by but maybe because I was meeting up with other WOYWW'ers - Jo, Annie, Mrs D and Margaret.  You can see photographs of us all in the post below if you want although I know some of you saw them on Friday when that particular post went live.

Saturday saw me attending a Kate Crane workshop in Burnley with my lovely friend Lorraine.  This is one of my journal pages (still not finished as it wants some more layers on) and three of my jumbo tags all done Kate style.  What a lovely and very generous teacher she is.

Did hope to have the page finished but my back has been bad and so put paid to any crafting again. Yes, this is a staged photograph but I know some of you wanted to see what we did so it was unavoidable.

There were some very nice ladies on the workshop and I was sure I had met one of them before but as she said she came from Leicester it didn't seem possible.  Then I put my apron on and my name was there in pen so she said "Yes! I know you now".  Turns out she had been on one of my Oyster workshops a couple of years ago.  How is that for a memory?  And I thought I had a poor one - but maybe not for faces.

Well today I took delivery of two new stamps.  One is a goldfish and the other is a flamingo.  I have the flamingo die so that I can cut it out but couldn't remember whether I had ordered the goldfish or the seahorse stamp for the three stage stamping.

Now I need to get the goldfish die!

I love my MISTI and this three stage stamping is made so much easier when you have one of these, especially if you want to make a batch of cards - and I do.  I just love the effect of the three stages too.

This is the Flamingo and a card with the Peony on

Right, will keep it fairly short and sweet today, if you want to see more head on over to Julia's and follow the links to other desks. Enjoy yourself!

Week 192 of Annie's Smiles

Well, here I am - just a few days late for Friday posting with Annie but I did have a good reason.  I was visiting.  Visiting special people and let's face it, what brings a smile to your face more than meeting up with friends, especially friends who do not live on your doorstep and whom you don't see that often.

Wednesday saw me being chauffeured down to Shrewsbury to meet up with the lady herself, Annie - our very own Wipso.  Annie and I first met up when I was staying in a house with friends and she came to see me, just for a very short while, in the pub where my friends and I were eating that evening.  Then we met up a couple of months ago when I went down and now here we are

Plus ... Annie's Sister, Jo!  

This time I didn't get a photo with "wriggle pants" - aka Milly!  Good excuse to have to go down again.  How come I missed out on a photo shoot with Milly?  It was lovely to meet up with Jo at last and hopefully we will get to meet up again at some time.

From Shrewsbury we went on to Llandudno.  This was a compensatory holiday for the ten day one in Spain that we had had to cancel on account of my not being well.  Two days in Llandudno, very enjoyable and, apart from rain on Wednesday evening, we did not get wet at all.

I would love to do a post about Llandudno but the main event in Wales was meeting up with another WOYWW friend, much like the meet with Annie as I got to meet someone else as well.

Thursday saw me sat in the hotel on my mobile phone making a telephone call to someone who had no idea I was quite as close to her as I was.  Arrangements were made for me to call to see her and another WOYWW friend the following morning so here I am, this time with Margaret (Glitter and Glue) and her very good friend Mrs D.

Mrs D, Me and Margaret reading from left to right.

So, as you can see I had plenty to smile about this Friday.  Sorry it has taken me so long to upload my blogpost but better late than never.  Will blog in more detail on Wednesday when I can be sure more WOYWW'ers will see my post.  In the meantime I am linking up to Annie's and off for a trip to see what others have to smile about.

Jeudi Journal - Sun

Wendy's choice this time - and we had to include a sun. Well I was really stumped this time.  As most of my pages had been already prepped (how I wish I had not done this) I found it even more difficult to paint a 'sunny' page.

As you can see I chose a green one - why?  No idea!

I drew a circle and then drew flame type shapes surrounding it on a piece of white cardstock.  Out came my DecoArt paints and Titan Buff went all over followed by Primary Yellow, Pyrrole Orange and Pyrrole Red for the flame shapes.  I just painted a face in but didn't bother about all the shading like I would on one of my Tracy Scott faces and stuck a hat on which was taken from a Vogue magazine - some kind of jewellery piece.

Finally I did the lettering and went over the leaves with a fine black pen.

I wonder what Wendy has done?

WOYWW 384

Still awfully thin on the crafting front I really must get my act together and make some cards before long.  I just owe too many birthday cards now, they have been mounting up over the past month and EEK!!! I bought a die on Sunday to make my "Special Christmas Cards" with.  You may remember I made the church in a box that my dear friend Janet showed us all at Oyster how to make.

So things had better get moving whether I feel like it or not - but not until this weekend is over.  I am off to a workshop with my good friend and stamping buddy Lorraine again and this time we will be learning from Kate Crane.  So exciting - and the week after I finally get to meet Eileen Goddard at another workshop so I had better be fit and well.  (Both workshops booked and paid for well before I started being ill)

Anyway, here is my desk

Far right is one of my square journals.  This is being prepped with Gesso on some pages in readiness for the KC workshop.  Working round to the left is my big journal with a page already painted and awaiting 'Jeudi Journal' inspiration - will have to be quick with that one but am so stuck!

Next are two pencil cases that have been taken from my Tim Holtz bag because I want the bag but not all my pencils on Saturday.  Next to the pencil cases is my little pink tote that I used on Sunday at Newark, still packed up.  Then comes my TH bag with it's assortment of things inside, a brayer is next resting on top of my small Gelli Plate and finally my tin of various mediums (Gesso, Texture Paste etc).

Well, that is it from me, off to see Annie later this morning and then off to Llandudno for a couple of nights.  Now where should I go, Betwsy, Conway, Caernarfon or where?  So many lovely places around that area, you will just have to wait and see.

Just linking up to Julia now and hopefully next week will have something to show you all.  Crafting at last????

Jeudi Journal

Well, the conversation between Wendy and myself went a bit like this the other week:

Me:  What's the next topic?
Wendy: Red
Me: What the heck am I going to do for that?
Wendy: I don't know (imagine the tone) but you chose it!!!

Well, yesterday was very interesting as I tried to make something of an already coloured red page.  It was actually quite nice until I started messing about with it.  I began drawing swirls with my black pens, including bits of white pen - why do they show up pink?  Oh how I wish I was into Zentangling!  Never been much good at it, don't have the patience for it and I cannot even find the books I have that show you how to do the various patterns.

The opposite page was red too so I decided to stamp a new stamp on it and somehow make it look much larger on the page - no good - I just could not get a solid image - what is it with me and silhouette type stamps?

So my dear friends - I just carried on into the night messing about with my pens and this is all I came up with - lots of room for improvement but no time as the land of nod is beckoning me.  Here it is - Red!

WOYWW 383

Another week gone by, another week of no creativity as such.  Oh dear, I really must get my act together. Didn't even get much shopping done when I went to Port Sunlight on Saturday but I did enjoy meeting up and talking with my friends.  Isn't that what life is all about - friendships?

Literally walked through the door and into the large room when my friend Sam(ski) saw me and then that was it.  Met Helen (cannot believe it was the FIRST time we had ever met, after chatting so much in Blogland), Emma - closely followed by dear Doug and Shaz. Hazel, who some of you may remember from Horseshoe Crafts was the next person I saw and she looked stunning.  Didn't get much chance to talk to her and so regret that we didn't meet up later as I loved the new look Hazel. She really is a lovely person inside and out and I miss her being a vendor at Port Sunlight so much.

Made my way to Helen (Nile) to ask about Sylvia and spent about a hour and a half sitting and chatting in the doorway to Sylvia.  We had so much catching up to do.  Then I bought my first purchases.  Three stamps from Visible Images.  Here they are with my last minute of the day purchases from one of my favourite vendors, Leandra of PaperArtsy.  I don't get much chance to see Leandra with her being in Essex and me being up north so it is always a pleasure to see her at this show.

Anyway, the stencil is a Donna Downey one, the pink mushroom type stamps are JOFY ones and the multicoloured one is the last in my collection of Tracy Scott stamps from Paper Artsy.  The paints are also from PA but the other three stamps are from Visible Images. Was I restrained or what?

Now some of you may be wondering about the pink rose?  Can you see it in front of the paints?  That was given to me by Kay from Honey Doo Crafts.  She, and daughter Amanda, make the most beautiful flowers and dear Kay gave it to me when I was talking to her at the end of the show.

Well, before I made my Paper Artsy purchases I went and had lunch, a two hour sit down (now you know why I didn't get much shopping done) and was joined by Helen Jackson, Sarah Anderson, Anita Mistry (not seen her for years), Lynn Hardy, Pearshaped Chris, Janet Wilson, Doug and Shaz.

Deciding I had better make a move I set off but didn't get far as I bumped into Chris Slater closely followed by Ann Thompson (Thommo).  I made my way back to Paper Artsy and saw the Samski/Helen gang again who were now joined by Alison Hall (Craftytrog) who was demonstrating for Leandra.

Somewhere along the line, I have lost track, I also saw my Bestie, Lorraine and her friend Sue, Margaret Rose 1, Jacqui Hill and finally got to meet up with Diane Waldock who had messaged me to say she was attending.

Well, that just left vendors to see and I made my way to see Paul Church on the Clarity stand, had another chat with Mr PaperArtsy, Mark, and made my way to another sit down with Kay on Honey Doo and her lovely daughter Amanda.

So you see, with needing to say "Hello" to all those people I kept my money in my purse - well not quite all of it but I only spent around £100.  Didn't stay there that long though as I found some stamps online that I have been wanting for ages so an order went in and I needed some more paints so that was another order.  

Do we really NEED these things or do we simply WANT them?

Pop along to see Julia to see what she has been up to and follow a few links to see some interesting desks whilst having a cuppa. Toodlepip - see you all next week.