Gym Update - Jeudi Journal

I think this was my choice but I am ready to be shot down by Wendy as I am not really sure.  Wendy is always on the ball with these things.  Anyhow, once again it was a pre-painted page that just needed a bit more colour on to cover up the blank bits and so I went with my Distress Inks/Oxides.

I wanted to portray someone who was "skipping" their keep fit at the gym and first of all thought of one of the lying down figures but settled for the one who obviously was out shopping.  I just love the huge glasses and so I went with a plain head that they would fit on.  

She looked a bit out of balance without any hair so I had to think of something to give her a bit of height to counter the glasses and so I began with a rooftop and then put in two of the 'horns'.

As she looked a bit lonely on the page I decided to give her a little dog to go out shopping with.  This one sits so well that I thought he would be good when left outside the shops.  Just to make sure you all knew why she was not at the gym, in case the picture did not do it for you, I put a sign by the side of the dog.

Love those eyes, but not sure about the hat!

WOYWW 512

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday is what is going on here today.  I am baring my desk for all to see - dare you to bare yours.  Where, you ask?  Why, here, at the desk of our founder Ms Julia is where you can start.

As for me, again a fairly bare desk but there has been activity, just not at the moment.  Not to fear I do intend to show you one or two bits of what I have been up to, just not necessarily at this desk.  Although if you look closely you can see a spot of paint left on my glass mat and an old credit type card (known as a 'splodger') plus some bits and bobs of things to make marks on pages for backgrounds.

The two little figures waiting to be cut out are from my friend, Lorraine, who sent me quite a few to keep me going last week.

These are some pages from my small Moleskine done earlier.  Now you either like or you don't like the figures that are made by Stampotique.  They are expensive, wood mounted stamps and appeal to some but not all.  I must say I do like them but then I like things a bit 'out of the ordinary'.  Here's a small selection:

Weird or what?

Thanks for all the lovely comments re my health last week.  Had my oscopies done - the colonoscopy was so painful I never want one again.  Well, maybe I'd have a 3D one (even though it is done privately and therefore is quite costly).  Still waiting for the results which could be 3-5 weeks yet.  Same with the CT scan and now am waiting fingers crossed, to see if the consultant will agree to my having a spinal x-ray.  

Right, that is it for another week - maybe more pages next Wednesday from my Moleskine or perhaps something new.  I am off now to see what everyone is showing on their desks.

Jeudi Journal - Patience

Wendy's choice - "I wish I was as Thin as My Patience" this week - and it gave me a headache.  I could not find a figure in my Dylusion sets that suggested someone with a bit of weight behind them.  So in the end I used two dogs.  I felt that the bulldog was a weighty animal and the poodle was nice and trim.  The poodle is all wrapped up for winter and was wearing a huge cowl neck which hung down so I chopped some of it off to make the dog look much slimmer.  Surprising how the huge cowl added the pounds.

Luckily I had another almost finished brayered page.  Obviously another one done with Dyan at her workshop but I was not happy with the blank bits where the brayer had missed so I went over it with a couple of Distress Oxides - Twisted Citron and Peeled Paint.  Then I did a spurt of water and left it for a short time before drying it off to give the oxidation that they are known for.  

I put another layer on, this time Broken China Oxide and this made a difference, again a bit of oxidation and then some leaves through Dylusion Stencils in another two Greens - Lucky Clover and Cracked Pistachio. 

What I am trying to portray is that the bulldog is saying to himself "I wish I was as thin as my patience" and the picture of a thin dog is in his mind hence the thought bubbles.  Another alternative I thought of was that I called the poodle "Patience" and the bulldog something like "Butch".  That way he could be wishing he was as thin as his ladylove who he carries a picture of in his mind.

So there you are - make your own mind up if you don't like my first idea go with my second.

WOYWW 511

Another week has flown by, and because I didn't want it to it seemed to go twice as fast.  Well, I am not here this morning so am hoping some kind soul will link me up as I don't want to miss a single WOYWW.  What is that?  It is a group of followers of Julia who first began this blog hop over nine years ago.  Why not join in here?

I have not been doing much crafting this past three months owing to bad back pain (you would not believe the amount of painkillers I have been on) but there have been other things afoot and I have suffered with very bad anaemia to the point that my GP was getting quite worried.  So this morning I am in hospital having two "oscopies" - to see if they can find what is the matter.  I just hope it is resolved quickly as I don't like feeling so tired, breathless and lacking in energy as I have.

Anyway, now you all know (I have avoided mentioning it before because someone who used to be a friend has been nasty saying rather scathingly to another friend that I am always going on about my health on my blog).  Apologies if I have, I did not intend to apart from a casual mention of my back pain which was only to explain my not having things to blog.

Right, that is out of the way so now to my desk, with some happy mail from my BFF to cheer me up and give me something to do when I get home - effortless colouring in ready for my Moleskin journal:

and now, as promised last week - my handmade birthday cards

Alexis

Carmel

Cath

Chris

Dot

Gill

Jacqui

Janet

June

Lorraine

Lynne

Margaret

Mo

Nikki

Renate

Shaz

Sue

Thommo

Val

Wendy

Enid (snuck in late)

Lovely work and lots of inspiration, don't you agree?  I am one lucky lady.

Junk Journal - Spring and a Rabbit

One of the topics to include in our Junk Journal challenge (just me with a friend)  is an animal and the first on the list is a rabbit.  Imagine my delight when my buddy, Lorraine, gave me a couple of floral rabbits - perfect for this page.

I began by tearing some papers in shades of blue - one was like a piece of fencing - and I married them with a bit of torn map paper.  Then I chose my two little girls from the TH Petite Doll range and wondered what else I could use.  When I saw the rabbit tag in my stash I thought it would go perfectly and so I tried it just behind the figures.  The small girl's head is actually hiding the tiny hole where there was an eyelet.  

Next I wondered about putting a word or two on but having exhausted myself of spring minded words/quotes I just left it.  It looked so bare though.  Eventually having tried a few things I settled on three diecut flowers making a daisy.  No mention of "Spring" but rabbits are seen in Spring aren't they?

Jeudi Journal - Wine?

This week the quote for the Journal is "Thou Shalt Not Whine" which immediately made me think of "Wine".  Fortunately I had a page already coloured and it was a colour I would have described as 'wine'.  Not a clue what paints I used to get there.  Funny how things work out and how the mind works.

Well, that certainly contributed to my thinking of "wine" and in my mind I saw a girl sitting in a wine glass.  For some reason it was more of a champagne glass, the wide type that I pictured and I was sure one of the sitting figures of Dyans would fit nicely into such a glass.

Once I had the glass, the figure ready, and the background also done I put it all together loosely but felt there was something missing.  It was all too plain.

Lightbulb moment - one of my favourite BIG stamps was the one from AALL & Create by Bipasha, not that it had a wine bottle on but it did have a rather glorious bottle on.  So I thought that would create some interest for the background, and with the addition of a tiny bunch of grapes from Honey Doo Crafts, I made, what I considered, a suitable background.  

So there you have it - my Jeudi Journal for this week.  One which fell into place so easily.  I like it,  wonder if  you will?

Winter Outside but Spring in my Junk Journal

Oh dear, "the weather outside is frightful" but inside it is not the fire that is delightful but my journalling bits are and today I decided to make a Spring page for Art Journal Journey to cheer me up on a blustery March day and get some of those bits used.

I have been avoiding using the paper that is at the top right but plucking up my brave I tore it in half, sort of corner to corner, and made that my first 'stick down' bit.  Then I had some pink tissue on one of my birthday gifts so a tiny bit of that and some other pink paper saw the most of the page covered.  

One of my friends had bought me a little pin (a kind of Skull Russian Doll) and it was fixed to the little rectangle with the oval aperture that I have put the Tim Holtz Petite Doll on.   A little rose  patterned paper, a Wildflower (cut from another birthday present) and a postage stamp from Oz which was on my birthday card sent by my little sister.

So there we are, another entry for Spring at Art Journal Journey.  have you joined in yet?

WOYWW 510

Back again for another round of the longest running blog hop I know of.  It's all down to our Julia and her merry band of followers.  Sounds a bit like Robin Hood and his Merry Men!  Well, we are a happy crew, why not join us and bare your desk.

Not been much on my desk of late and today isn't that much better but there are a couple of bits you might not have seen before.  I have been crafting but it is mainly crafting on a trolley from my comfortable chair whilst my back has been bad.

On the left are some bits of paper which I had been sifting through and then there is my Junk Journal which has kept me going through the last few weeks.  There are some Tim Holtz Wildflowers cut out on my glass mat - a birthday present from a friend, and below them is my little Moleskin Journal which I do from time to time with cute figures in.  Most of them are from PaperArtsy Zinnis or Stampotique figures with backgrounds similar to what I once did with Kate Crane.

Need some more of those backgrounds doing but I am worried it might set my back off again and at the moment I am feeling pretty good about it.

Was hoping to show you my lovely array of handmade birthday cards today but as I was out most of the day (CT scan) yesterday I didn't get around to it.  Next week be ready - they will be scanned and waiting.  See you then then.

Junk Journal meets Art Journal Journey - Spring

Couldn't wait to see what I could do in my Junk Journal for the challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  This month it is "Spring" as chosen by Jo and I immediately thought of the little Junk Journal I have that has people in it.  It was about time I added to that.

My page (something in my head to be honest) wanted me to do something along the lines of "Springtime in Paris" and so I sifted through my yellow stash of papers left over from the month before's challenge settling on a floral one and a gingham one.  Then it was a case of gathering some bits and pieces to decorate with.  I chose a lovely ticket for a show but after I stuck it in found it said 'December' and so it had to be covered up.  Luckily I had some small replica French postage stamps and, as that was the next topic on my Junk Journal list, it worked fine.

A bit more ephemera, two lovely young ladies and the page was finished bar the wording.  I was sure I had a rubber stamp suitable but could not find a single one so it was off to the computer for a bit of assistance.

Hope you like my entry:

Jeudi Journal

This week's quote is "If you promise to go away, I promise to stop ignoring you" and the only thing I could think of was to use a figure facing one way and one facing the opposite way - unfortunately I don't have any.  So I chose the sitting down girl who looked, to me, as if she was ignoring someone, ie the figure next to her.

The background was already done from a previous mopping up type session and with a bit of stencilling on top.  I felt it was busy enough to warrant being left as it was rather than adding any other stencilling or stamping.

In order to give you, the viewer, a clue as to who was doing the ignoring I added a couple of arrows pointing from the girl sitting down to say she was ignoring the other, although by her face I would say it is pretty evident who is the ignorer.  I chose to leave these without any colour at all as I felt it gave it more impact.  After-all the background and figures were both very colourful.

So here it is.  Got an idea for next week but we will have to wait and see if I can execute it.

WOYWW 509

In so many ways these weeks fly by and in others they are dragging a bit.  Still, it comes as a shock when I realise that it is Tuesday and time to look at my desk for Ms Julia and her weekly blog hop.

Another week where I have not been very productive on the crafting front, I do hope that in a short time I will be up and running producing lots of artwork.  I look back at some of the artwork (Mixed Media) stuff I have produced in the past and think how much I would love to be working on a piece right now.

My desk is getting a bit of a mess, the 'shove to the left' technique is getting a bit out of hand as I don't want to be lifting and stretching to put lots of things back on the shelves which means I have to move some other stuff first as things sit behind other things.  Those wide shelves, which seemed a good idea at the time, can be a bit of a pain - I should have asked for elastic sides on my room instead of shelving.

Anyway, I have managed to do something - my March pain diary is ready.  There's not a great deal to it but I thought that March heralded Spring so it had to have a spring-like quality about it - what better than daffodils and crocus.  So here it is, my March Diary (blogged yesterday but still hanging around my desk as you can see).

I stamped some Hyacinths in the bottom corner of the first page, the second page has Daffodils and Crocus in two opposite corners, you can just see a Daffodil peeking at the top.  These were coloured in using my coloured pencils for a change from Promarkers.  I really enjoyed playing with them and think I might examine the value of this medium a little bit more.  

The two pages are on my glass mat which still has not been cleaned off from my Jeudi Journal exploits of the past weeks and those pieces of craft mat material are my page protectors, useful when I am painting a background in my journal.  

Well, that is it for this week.  Why not join me over at Ms Julia's for a spot of blog hopping, better known as 'desk nosing' - it's good fun I promise.

It's Spring at Art Journal Journey

This month they are celebrating 'Spring' with Jo at Art Journal Journey so I need to get my sunny face on and join in with them.  There's so many ways we can think of Spring and I hope I can come up with some Junk Journal pages before long but for the time being I am showing you my Diary pages for March.

I had intended doing this last month and entering it for "Yellow" on Art Journal Journey so I was particularly happy to see Jo had chosen "Spring" as her topic for March because I wanted to use some Spring flower stamps.

I just used some yellow cardstock as my base and stamped Hyacinths, Daffodils and Crocus - all flowers which are coming up in my garden or have been over the past few weeks.  These were then coloured in with coloured pencils and the edges of the squares were touched with Distress Ink in Mustard Seed.  I did try them with a green DI but preferred the yellow even though it was to go against a yellow background.

Why not do something Spring inspired and join in yourself!