Jeudi Journal

Again Wendy's choice of topic - Bright and Beautiful - and this time she stipulated "Rainbow" for the colours.  Not quite sure what she meant and not a clue why I did not email her to ask, I went along with a pink and yellow background that had a bit of grey in it that was already done in my journal.  I just liked the colours I had used but have not a clue what the shades are or whose paints they were.

Remembering that 'Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain' I wrote down the initial letters of the mnemonic on a scrap of paper and chose ink pads according to them all, stamping small background shapes all over, finishing with a Violet wall at the base.  This was to stand my "Mirror" on so that I could use the words "Mirror, mirror on the wall ..." although most people would expect it to be a nicely painted wall of a house and not a brick wall.

Then I used my newest Dylusion rubber stamps (bought in the sale at Art from the Heart) when I was last over.  I used the glass dome on the set with a few bits cut off to represent my mirror.  Remember me winning a Black Journal that trip?

I really enjoyed making this page.  Hope you enjoyed looking at it.

WOYWW 469

No asterisk this week - wonder how many of US will remember to publish our names without it?

Well our ninth anniversary has come and gone in an avalanche of mail that the poor posties had to deliver as best they could whilst we bloggers sent out atc's all over the place.  These were nine of mine, sent out on the day in case my Pif was the same person as one I had agreed to swap with.

These were the same ones but in their little covers

There were a couple more but when I went to look at the photograph just now they had a big shadow over them, sorry.  And I forgot to take a photo of one of the ones sent to my Pif (all will become apparent when she posts as to why there were two).

Anyhow I sat and waited patiently for my collection to build up and it was exciting each day the postie called (asking me why I got so much post?).  Want to see what I got?  Course you do!

From the top left:- Angela (Felix the Crafty Cat), Julia (Boss Lady), Cindy (Plants List), Nikki (), Annie (Wipso), Shaz (Silverwolf), Zsuzsa (Inkydinkydoodle) and Sarah (Sarah's Craft Shed).

Apologies for it being a bit "skew-wift" but it was the third time they had been scanned and I gave up.  Top left again working across - Margaret (Glitter & Glue), Jan (LLJ), Jo (Twiglet) and Heather (Heather's Crafty Retreat).

A feast for the eyes?  Thank you so much everyone, and thank you to those who included all those little extras, the lovely cards, tags, envelopes and things.  I did intend writing and thanking every one of you individually but I had a dreadful ending to the week.  I am not functioning at all well at the moment.  I will try to get around to writing this week.

However, my desk - trying to make a sympathy card but not managing it as yet - struggling

Most of you will remember that I go to CHA/Creativation each January and stay with my friend Mary in California.  Remember me showing you my temporary desk on many occasions whilst I was there - her huge room of tables for classes?  Some of you may know that Mary was ill last November with Bullous Pemphigoid as a result of an infusion against osteoporosis and she didn't actually go to CHA this year but we still stayed with her, on her insistence.  Little did I know when I said "Bye" to her in February that I would not see her again.  Mary gave up her fight on Saturday and I am heartbroken.

I cannot begin to make you believe what a truly wonderful lady she was.  I only met her through a card making group we both were on when she casually (or so I thought) asked me what my plans were for my next visit to CHA.  She opened her home and her heart to us and so we stayed with her each year for the next eleven years, twice one year when she lost her home and I realised how lonely she was as her family were scattered around in temporary accommodation, for so many of them had also lost their homes.

Mary was so generous, she had the biggest heart and would never see anyone without a roof over their heads.  She opened her house to numerous people having parties for anyone who wanted to host a large gathering - her son's Super Bowl Party became an annual event and we were lucky to be there for most of them - a neighbour's special birthday - Stamping Parties (January/February ones she roped me in to do - when I made so many friends as a result) so many occasions this wonderful generous lady would welcome folks into her home.

Just before she was ill she went down to Pasadena giving card making classes to women who had been less fortunate than many of us.  It didn't matter to Mary that some of them had earned a crust living on the streets or committing horrendous crimes, they were trying to better themselves and her love was there for them to see - and they loved her for it.  I was supposed to be going with her this year but obviously it didn't happen.  We both thought there was next year.

I remember many times she would see someone begging on the street and would wait and cross busy thoroughfares to give them some money or stop the car at a junction to reach out and hand some 'green bills' to someone obviously out of work or homeless.

She was in many groups of card makers and the one I knew her in will miss her because she was such a bighearted, generous and loving member - no - more than a member, she was a 'stalwart' helping Cath the listmom in any way she could.  She always sent a birthday card to every single member and there was always a little rubber stamp inside the envelope. That was friendship, and then there was the "Sunshine Group" she ran.  If anyone was really ill or something had happened in someones' life where they needed "Sunshine" Mary was your man!  She had a little band of us she would contact and we would send off cards to that person.  No reasons needed be given, it was just to cheer someone up.

She did so many other things too, and I cannot sit and list them all here - I don't remember half of what she did but I do know that there will be a big hole in a lot of hearts now that she has passed.  

There have been many tributes from people on Facebook and her nephew Tim described her as "the glue that held us all together" and went on to say that everyone should have an aunt like her in their life.  A fitting tribute for a beautiful, wonderful, generous and most loving lady.  (Thank you Tim, it was beautiful)

I will miss you more than you know

RIP my lovely friend

God Bless you.

A favourite photograph taken a long time ago

Me, Mary (stood at the back), Carole

Jeudi Journal

Another Thursday, another Journal page - gosh, they come around awfully quickly.

Another of Wendy's choices and this time it is "Under the Sea" and Blue and Turquoise.  No surprise there as Wendy likes making books and things, with this topic, and these are two of her favourite colours.

I used Yellow as my third colour and when I brayered (yes, again) on my page with the blue and turquoise it came out quite green.  I should have expected it to happen with those two colour mixes.  Not to worry.  Finally I did some stamping on the background with a Kate Crane circle stamp that she carved herself.

I used Dyan's stamps and fussy cut lots of little fish out, along with the octopus heads and the crabs, colouring them in as I went along.  Then I used the fronds to form the bottom of the sea directly to my journal page and coloured them in with Promarkers finally sticking on the various little creatures.

Not stuck for words this time, I remembered a conversation with a friend about a school gaining 'academy status' and so I used that idea.

Off to see what Wendy has done - she has lots of great stamps for this topic.

468 - WOYWW's 9th Anniversary

Well, it is the 9th anniversary for WOYWW - what an achievement Julia!!  Nine years of fun and friendship.  Nine years of sharing, or baring, our desks.  Nine years of making friends with people in various parts of the world - not necessarily your own country but in all the corners of the earth in some cases.

Back in January when I attended Creativation (formerly CHA) I met up with Suzi Bentz who I first knew from here many years ago, it was lovely to renew our friendship.  Some old friends are not on here regularly but pop in from time to time and it is always lovely to see them again.  Time is no barrier, there is still the same friendliness between all who have graced the hallows of WOYWW.

Now, after waxing lyrically I will get to the nitty gritty and show you my desk.

Went to see a friend at weekend who lives up north so took a little kind of crafting kit with me, it is buried somewhere under this lot.  The tiny die cutting machine and dies were from last week when I was using them to cut out number nines for my atc's.  A last minute production took place yesterday for something to do with them and I found I was actually one short - I had forgotten my PIF!  Not to worry, they have been taken care of, wonder who it will be?

As for my atc's, well I cannot show them to you yet until they have been received and I am not showing you the glorious one from Nikki in Canada until next week - mind you I am bursting to do as I love it - so colourful!

Will share a photo of my friend Lorraine and I at the Craft Club on Saturday when we did some 'one stroke painting' with Pat who had the most glorious samples.  Sorry, I am not showing you my attempts, hope to get better as time goes on.

As I had to attend the Club and not watch the wedding I thought I would enjoy myself so I bought two masks, one each for us and Lorraine brought her iPad so we could watch the wedding, or at least see the gown.  Glad I did not miss out - but then I went home to watch it all whilst 'himself' watched the Cup Final.  Satisfaction all around.

Jeudi Journal

This time Wendy's choice - with Rusty Hinge (my favourite of all the Distress colours - want it in an Oxide) and Fossilized Amber.  The latter of which I used in an Oxide form - yes, I mixed the two together on my page.  I began by doing DTP with the Rusty Hinge all over the page, got some interesting shapes as my pad dropped to the paper, then I used my applicator and went around the corners with the Fossilized Amber and did a bit of water dropping, spritzing, setting - as you do.

Next I introduced a bit of Walnut Stain (Oxide) through one of Andy Skinner's stencils of an Ammonite (that was the theme Wendy had chosen) and a couple of words from another of his stencils regarding travel.

Wishing to wile away some time in the sun I foolishly began drawing around the shapes of the ammonite with a black pen, it looked much better before I did this as it got too busy when the figures were added. Also on the words which I quite like - and in white as you can see.

Introducing the figures which I had coloured in brightly, avoiding the colours of the background, was the last thing on this page apart from the words.  I often think the hands on Travelling Travis are a bit creepy so I thought I would use them as my bit of dialogue this week. 

Now to next week's theme.

woyww 467

Another week has gone by and we are now getting very close to our atc swap.  Hope you are well on by now with yours if you are swapping.  I am well on my way and have received mine from Nikki in Canada (hopefully mine is winging its way to her by now).

Apart from making my backgrounds I did stamp some little figures that I thought I might use on some of my atc's.  I then packed them all up, alongside some Promarkers, and took them with me to York on Sunday (only coming back last nigh)t.  We had some lovely weather and yesterday we went for a cruise on the river Ouse.  Look what we saw whilst waiting for the boat.  They were just parading along the King's Staithe and this was just one small family that we saw.  (Once on board we saw lots of these little families swimming in the river)

then they got tired

they were adorable

We were so lucky with the weather the whole weekend (Sunday to Tuesday) and so we took advantage of it each day.

We went to Beningborough Hall on Sunday after a delicious carvery at the hotel.  Had never heard of it until we went but they had an exhibition on entitled "Making Her Mark" showcasing portraits of influential women in the Arts including a huge portrait of Dame Judi Dench, one of Darcey Bussell, a small portrait of Dame Helen Mirren which she sat for in her Los Angeles home, and photographs of Amy Winehouse and JK Rowling to name but some of the famous ladies.

Afterwards we went outside for a cuppa in the delightful outside tea rooms - but not from this huge teapot - think it leaks.

I am not going to include any photographs of the flowers, shrubs etc - they would not be given justice alongside the photography of our Helen but I will show you the cherry blossom that the photo does not do justice to (I spent too long talking to a friend who is in hospital before taking the photo and the light had gone when I did take it, sorry)

This is a single one across from those above

I was so cross about this tree!  A couple were underneath it with their little girl and the father was shaking the branches so that the blossom fell onto the little one.  Ok, so it was fun for the child, but not for as long as they did it - I got up and went and stood by the tree and they took the hint and walked off.  It doesn't last long enough as it is without irresponsible folks shaking it.  Was I a spoil sport?  What would you have done?

We ended the afternoon sitting on a bench and surveying the bullocks in the fields - what a pleasant way to spend a Sunday.

                                                                                

I had better leave it there as I am still half asleep and need to be somewhere for 9 am - but never fear I will be back to visit some of you via Ms Julia's WOYWW blog post and maybe I will write up some more about our trip to York. 

But first .....

My desk - short trip aftermath

Jeudi Journal

Pale Blue and Green are the colours and the theme is Tulips from Amsterdam.  Thought up no doubt because of my trip to Amsterdam.  Yes, my choice and a few 'cusses' to myself for choosing it.  

Anyhow, the background was done with blue, green and some yellow paint and my brayer.  I seem to be using the brayer a lot recently but not getting any better handling it in the way that I want to.  A bit of stencilling, some stamping with Catherine Pooler's juicy ink and I was ready for the theme.

A 'sketchy' windmill, a few birds, a couple of figures and I was away.  Tempted to put "two lips from Amsterdam" but refrained.  I just cut out what I thought were shapes for the Dutch hats and then went to look for my tulip stamps.  I could only find the one so ended up with a border across the bottom stamped directly onto the page and coloured in, whilst chatting on the phone, with my Promarkers.  (No, I was chatting with a friend not with the pens)  Stuck again for words.

Closer views

That's it!  Must admit I do like making backgrounds and would love to carry on with loads of colours building up layer after layer - maybe I will do a rogue page like that (ie not a challenge page).

Now to see if Wendy 'cussed' too!

woyww 466

Another week has gone by in no time at all but it has been lovely to have some warmth in the sunshine rather than those biting winds we seemed to have for so long on our sunny days up in the north of England.  Mind you it did change yesterday and we got rain!

Looking forward to doing my ATC's now that the time is getting closer.  My 'to send to' list looks like this and, should any of these lovely ladies be my PIF, then I will send them two.

Alphabetically:

Angela

Annie (Wipso)
Cindy

Jan

Jo (Twiglet)

Nikki

Sarah

Zsuzsa

and, of course, Julia

   there might even be a surprise one or two as well.  

This week has seen me doing a bit of tidying in the garage, which of course led to the porch.  The latter is looking much better, the car boot is full of stuff for the charity shop but my craft room(s) look a mess!

This is my main craft room that you are all used to seeing

The two stamp sets on the left are what I was stamping images from in readiness for something I am doing.  This was my 'retreat from the rain' session yesterday afternoon.  I am afraid I just left everything but went of colouring some images with my Promarkers in another room.  Now I am going to have a rummage in the Big Chest you can see on the right.  It holds my Dylusion Sets and I think they want a bit of a sort out and I might just stamp one or two in readiness for a bit of journalling.

That's me in a nutshell what will you be doing?  That is after you follow this link and look at Miss Julia and her band of crafters - go on, you know you want to.  See you next week!

Jeudi Journal

Wendy's choice - brown and orange and "Down on the Farm".  What the heck can ~I do for this?  Oh Wendy!  Well, I had a page with three bits of brown splodges on, obviously a clean up page where I had used the brown before and just got rid of the excess from my sponge applicator.  So I decided to use this page and put some orange and yellow on my craft mat and began brayering.  A bit more of this and a bit of that and some clean ups on other pages and I decided it was finished.  

Then I did a bit of stencilling with a brickwork stencil and finally some leaves.  Next came some stamping with Sepia Archival Ink and it was finished.  Whilst watching tv I cut out and coloured three figures from the Dylusions range and three heads from Stampers Anonymous.  A bit of colouring in and the page was almost completed.

As usual - got stuck for words!!!  Anyway, here it is:

A bit corny on the words (no pun intended) LOL  Guess he said it with a bit of a sheepish grin.

WOYWW 465

Saw something good on Facebook today - the lovely Antonis Tzanidakis is doing a one day workshop for Oyster Stamps whom I demo for in Hurley which I believe is near Maidenhead.  Hope this does not sound like an advert as I know Julia does not like us using WOYWW for advertising but I am hoping it is a "heads up" for some of you ladies down south.

Anyway, here I am linking up once again to the greatest blog hop in the history of blogging (well, we have been going for nigh on 9 years now - this must be a record).

It is now another month - May - and we are going to be celebrating with our 9th atc swap - so far I am swapping with

Wipso, Sarah B, Twiglet? and Nikki.  Any more takers?  Anyone I have forgotten?  I can do more than four of them.

Yesterday I had been doing another double page in my journal.  Don't think I will be giving to much away if I show you the state of my desk.

Apart from that I have very little to show you as I seem to have fallen behind in my crafting but this has to change as I have some birthday cards to make, my atc's to do and I want to do some Gelli Printing as well, just for pleasure.  I did, however, make a card for my niece who has had her second little boy the other week but forgot to show it on here.

This week has seen a long line of medical check - on Monday it was my INR check, Tuesday it was the Pacemaker check when I received the lovely news that my batteries are nearing the end of their life (ha ha).  Now I am on three monthly checks to make sure I don't grind to a halt.  Tomorrow it is my (new to our GP's) AF check up and Friday another hospital visit.  Be glad when the week is over - although nothing is too serious so no real worries.  It means I have had the days eaten into though hence no crafting.

Hopefully, all change next week and some crafting on the agenda.  In the meantime what bout visiting Julia and following the link in my second paragraph, you know you want to.  See you next week!