Jeudi Journal - Black, White and Red

Luckily I had this page done in black with an array of Seth Apter dies in white set out in a meandering style.  Don't know why I did it but boy did it come in useful when Wendy had suggested "Black, White and Red" as our next theme.

Once again I am in agony with my back, been to the GP who has re-referred me to physiotherapy but in the meantime I am seeking alternative medicine and visiting a Chinese doctor, recommended to me, tomorrow.

I had a feeling I had a rose cut out and coloured red from a Dyluision stamp somewhere and sure enough, found it so quite simply here is my offering for this week.

Now to visit Wendy and see what she has done.

421 WOYWW

Short and Sweet this week as I still have no craftroom.  Not to worry, by next week I might have the saga of the craftroom unfold and be able to show you that I have, at last, regained control.

In the meantime please be content with the latest page in my Dyary - sorry it is not more and please just concentrate on the right hand page ignoring the left.  Then take yourself off to the delights of Ms Julia and her latest travels then further journey into the unknown depths of the desks of those lovely crafters who make up WOYWW each week.

Jeudi Journal - Purple

Could not remember last night what the theme was in order to publish my page this week and I knew I did not dare ask Wendy (she was away anyhow) but thankfully a look through my journal gave me the prompt I needed - it was purple. Done earlier in the week.  See Wendy, I need not have confessed but I did!

Unsure what to do using Dylusion figures I looked up song titles, nothing!  Thought about those delicious Quality Street Chocolates that so many people love and then thought of doing the "Quality Street Gang" with lots of figures - then it dawned on me.  "When I am Old ..." and so my purple page began to be decorated.

It depicts a young woman sat thinking about when she is older and her dream 'self' complete with grey hair and purple clothing is sat on the pavement in a bubble above her head with the poem to the bottom right.  Here is my purple page:

Now to see what Wendy has done ...

WoYWW 420 (amended - sorry if I confused anyone)

Well, someone we all know seems to be having a lovely holiday - talk about wish I was there!!

Things pretty much the same here - still crafting on my knee or anywhere I can - not doing much but keeping up with my pain diary entries.  Still need to do lots on the pages but finding it difficult to do stencilling which is something I feel is missing.

Don't think there are any dark deep secrets on this page.  You will notice that after the 15th March I had no pain in my back ... until Friday 9th June - but that is a 'not yet decorated' page - good long run wasn't it.

The craftroom is being painted at the moment.  I have to wait until October for the flooring to come but cannot live much longer in this disarray so everything is going back (well most of it) until later and then when the floor is being done it will have to come out again but only for the day.

Saw this stamp (right page, wavy lines) when I was at Art from the Heart and just had to have it.  It is great for doing writing on but I still need to experiment with different lettering etc.  Fills a page up nicely.  All the zeds are when one son had to sleep over because he was on nights and his neighbour was having work done - during the day obviously. Good to have him home although I only saw him about 5 minutes in a morning and 5 more in the afternoon.  Literally just "bed" and no breakfast (his choice).

Won't show you any more pages, can get kind of boring, but here is something that will not bore you - an atc and this time from Robyn

To the left is her atc and to the right the card accompanying it

Thanks Robyn!

Hoping everyone is well, enjoying this sunshine and not finding it too hot.  Do I owe anyone an atc? I have a feeling there is one I owe to someone, is it you Sandra de?

Apologies if I did not get to you last week but it was the back pain which is a little better at the moment but will it last to lunch time?  Only time will tell.  I will try to make up for it this week. Sorry.

Time to go to see where Julia is in her travels and see what others are up to - see you here later.

Annies smiles 225

Why does the bathroom make me smile?  Because it has been in the making for the past three weeks and I am just glad to have my bedroom and bathroom back to normal.  Had a door taken out that joined with my craft room so the house is still in a state as that is waiting to be decorated and craft stuff is all over.  Nevertheless I now have a lovely walk in shower and still have retained the bath.

Here it  is:

Two washbasins, large mirrored cupboard over the top, narrow cupboard at side.  The aqua colour was chosen by the wife of the contractor.  I gave her carte blanche to do the decorating having seen what a lovely job she did of my friend's bathroom a few months ago.  The only stipulation I had was that the door and skirting had to remain wood coloured and not be painted white.  The large mirrored cupboard has lights either side which come on when you waft your hand underneath.

The bath and shower - she provided the top two bath towels and the mat which are the exact colour of the feature wall (other walls being grey and behind the shower and around to the bath are panels in a light grey which twinkle when the light plays on them).

I should have pulled the blind down.  This is the window and she painted those three little ducks in the aqua and the grey and then provided a lovely white artificial orchid which I thought was a real one.

Now to see what made others smile by going over to visit Annie first of all.

Jeudi Journal - Orange

Well, here I am after the mix up from last week - hopefully we will both be on the same page next time.

Got the back pain again, own fault, too much cleaning after the bathroom was fitted.  Hopefully a day or two of rest and heat (and medication) will chase the little 'divil' away.  Anyhow, not here for moans so what I am about to show you is the orange page, thankfully done before the back went.  Here goes - the whole page and then each page in more detail:

Sorry the words peter out on the left hand page where the spine bends.  It was either publish it like that or have my hand on which then created a shadow as well.  Oops!  And the page looks decidedly yellow in parts where I have gone in to brighten it up - the original is orangey though.

Now to see what Wendy has done.

WOYWW 419

Very short and sweet today as my back pain has returned.  My own fault as I had a cleaning up session of the kitchen cupboards last Thursday and have been suffering ever since.  Crafting has fallen by the wayside, and yes, it only takes a bit of polishing to send me into nightmare mode again.

My craft room (temporary one) was beginning to take shape since we had moved from the spare room and I had been enjoying doing my Dyary.  I did manage to do a bit of colouring of figures the other day but when I went to take a photo it was open at this page so here is my desk for the week:

Recognise the scruffy green mat?

OK, that is it folks, off now to see what Julia and her Band of Merry Crafters have been up to.  See you next week on here if I don't see you at your blog but I will try to visit those who visit me at the very least.

Annies Smiles 224

One little thing that is a big thing is that my lovely friend in America sent me this tiny die which I have wanted for over a year.

It's only tiny but I have waited for it to be back in stock and was beginning to give up hope when I saw it.  Straight away I emailed Mary and she said "already ordered", bless her, she had also seen it back in stock and was right on my case.  I am so lucky to have her as a friend and I miss her so much.

Want to see what I have done with it?

I did some brayering in yellows, greens and blues and then did a bit of black stencil work and some stamping on some cards.  Placed a multi-coloured card behind each cut out, made a border on another card and mounted on a final one.

We have had some terribly high winds up here resulting in lots of leaves in our garden, the chimnerea blown over, cannot begin to tell you how many times the covers blew off the garden furniture; seems even the pigeons had problems.

These three obviously found their home a bit moveable.  Trees blowing like crazy in the wind - we did have a smile at their sitting on the fence.

Pop along to see Annie and her loyal followers for some more smiles and take a Raspberry Bun with you, fresh from the oven.  Ronaldo (apprentice on bathroom job) loved them and even asked for the recipe for his mum.

Jeudi Journal - Pink

Wendy chose Pink as our next colour to visit whilst resting in China - well, and seeing all the sights of course.  So as it is a very important day for the UK I thought I would be a bit topical and introduce a party of my own "Lily the Pink's Party".  Not sure which one is Lily (think it is the little one - Paul O'Grady can be Lily so why can't this little fella?) but he is flanked by two loyal supporters by the looks of things.

If only real life could be idyllic and pink!

So sad to read about another terrorist attack, this time in the capital city.  I can only hope that with the different cultures showing a united front we can bring about more understanding for the man in the street.

WOYWW 418

It's Wednesday blogging time and once again we are baring our desks for all to see.  Well, those who do have a desk that is.  Mine varies from my knee to the kitchen worktop to the study (which I have taken over with all my craft stuff piled in it - or have I?).

We are finally back in our own bedroom, in our own bed and the spare bed has now become a sort of haven for craft things that were previously in different parts of the house.  So now my craft room is (temporarily) in the study  but still got things all over the house.

Received more lovely atc's so I thought I would show them all together so you can wonder at their loveliness once more:

latest one from Lisa

Top left, reading to right Margaret, Lynne, Shaz, Angela, Dolores, Jo, Jan, Annie, Sandra de (Sorry you ended up sideways on Jan).

Well, that is it from me craft-wise as I am saving something I have been doing, for Friday with Annie, and, of course, my journal page for tomorrow. So let's hop on over to Julia's blog and see what she and the others have to offer.  Toodle Pip for now.

ps final tweaks on the bathroom and then it will be finished.  It's been a bit of a nightmare for Tony and Christine but I had a "reveal" last night and I am well pleased with it - very minimalistic - just hope I can keep it that way.  Photos to follow.

Annies Smiles 223- The Bathroom Goes On

Not a lot to smile about in some ways but a lot in others.  I am housebound in a way because of the work going on in the house.  We have to leave the door open so they can go in and out to the garage and back where most of the materials are stacked so we don't feel like leaving the house totally unattended when the workers are here.  Hence me being housebound.

Various things happened like the plasterer not turning up which threw Tony a day behind with his plans but boy have they worked hard and long when they have been able to.  Only took Sunday off last weekend.  Now I have not to go in (no photos) as Christine has started doing the painting.  I have left it entirely up to her - yes, this duo do the painting as well.  Nothing to do when they leave and they clean up every night so no mess for me each evening.  

Not sure how far they are willing to travel but they come from Formby area, I think, and travel to us in Bolton each day.  Well pleased with them (sorry not meant to be an advert but  ....) - I just keep the "brews" flowing.

Hopefully next week I will have lots to smile about and this week I am smiling because he has got rid of the step in the bathroom.  Split level meant it jolted my hip every time I stepped down from the vanity units to leave the bathroom (loo on the bottom bit, washbasins on the top) but there is a down-side to that.  It was going to be a feature and have led lights in the step that I could change the colour of.  Was kind of looking forward to that but then it will be easier on me now and I am not going any younger.  Maybe a reveal next week!

So picture-wise what can I show you that makes me smile.  Chas has been in the little garden at the front, mown the lawn and is now busy weeding the garden bit.  Such a shame my poppies and the azalea have got battered by the rain yesterday, it was looking lovely.  And the peonies have totally been destroyed.

Just part of the front garden
We 'aint gardeners you can tell

Now to see what Annie and the others have been up to this week.

Jeudi Journal - Yellow (and my tribute to Manchester)

Ok Ok So we are supposed to be on a travel thing at the moment. Well, yes we are, or yes, I am, but I have stopped off in China for a short spell and am crafting away whilst there.  Today I/we are having Yellow as our theme for crafting.  (aside: Actually I cannot find anything with the craft room as it is, got most things to hand but forgot about country type stamps)

Last week, as you no doubt remember from the news we had a terrible bombing incident in Manchester which is only a few miles away from where I live and I was so upset and angry that this had happened that I decided I needed to do a tribute to Manchester and the victims of the terrible bombing.  This is what I did:  

I had already painted a page yellow and so I decided to work on that. I found a picture of Manchester's skyline and printed it out along with some hearts that sported the Union Jack.  The latter of which I altered in sizes before printing.  I then stamped some more balloons from my Crazy Birds Accessories and stamped three Dyary figures from Dylusions.

I tried to colour the skin of the three figures differently to represent the various nationalities in Manchester and stood them together along with a giant heart saying "we love Manchester".  There are 22 balloons all told in the sky, one for each of the victims who lost their lives in the bombing.  As you can see I kept the colours to those of the Union Flag and I tried to use colours appropriate to the people when colouring in their apparel.

As for such a sunny background - I hope that Manchester will rise once again from this and there will be sunny days ahead for every one.   God Bless all those who have suffered from that dreadful day.