Jeudi Journal - Look Both Ways ...

"Look both ways before crossing a woman" was Wendy's choice for this week.

Now I have a confession to make.  I forgot it was Thursday!  Woke up at 4.30 am and sat in bed for a couple of hours sorting photos out on my tablet, or trying to.  Then I got up as I had to go for a blood test first thing and it was then I realised it was Thursday - and no journal done!!  

Luckily I had a background of sorts ready, it had set off as bright orange (if memory serves me right it was several DI's in oranges just swiped across the page) with some green pushed through a stencil randomly.  As usual I was not happy with it and so I swiped some Gesso across the whole lot to tone it down a bit.  Then it got left - waiting for Thursday ...

Before I went to the surgery I stamped some of AAL & Create's eyes and fingerprints on the page and scribbled the words "Left" and "Right" on a couple of times.  

When I got back I decided to go with the cat and dog again - he is always in the dog house!  She has an attitude with that stance of hers and so, along with a pair of legs for her which look as if she is about to kick him, the page was done.  Apart from another pair of eyes which I found in my Dylusion batch of ready cut out shapes that is.

So here you have it - almost lunch time but done despite a great deal of pain again today.  Boo Hoo!  Thank goodness for Chas who has helped out with the scanning and reaching things for me.  Even though my back is hurting I did have fun finishing this off and so I am entering it into Wendy's choice at Art Journal Journey - which is 'Having Fun'.

WOYWW 516

Another week, another WOYWW, anther week closer to the Crop.  Who's going?

My desk is a bit of a mess today, left like this from yesterday when I decided to have another go at my teabag workshop prep.  Finished another painted book but sorry, cannot show it you until nearer the time - just in case ...

Hope it doesn't make you seasick - it is a bit of an unusual angle.  Lace first of all, followed by a teabag book - well, it will have teabags in it later; then there are an assortment of tiny envelopes containing bits of ephemera I might use on some of my teabags; plus various teabags themselves (turmeric dyed ones, fruit tea ones, nicely stained ones and round ones).  At the top end of my counter you can see my encaustic iron and a tea towel that I have been using to provide a padded surface for ironing the teabags on.  Just in shot is a card I made in a coiuple of inutes.  It was something I brought back from CHA a couple of years ago and I tore two edges and stuck it on a piece of navy blue card and then on a blue one.  It will come in for something in the future when I don't have a card ready for an occasion.  

Hasn't it been gorgeous weather over the Easter break?  Hope you all got time out in the sunshine.  I actually made a card at weekend but forgot to scan it as I was in a hurry to get it in the post.  Sad to say it was a sympathy card as one of our friends lost their son.  It has been a most upsetting time and I have shed quite a few tears here and there.

On a brighter note here is a corner of our garden filled with forget-me-nots.  Quite appropriate under the circumstances.

Well, that is it for this week - not long now before we have the Crop.  I guess we are doing ATC's to swap - perhaps I will do round ones for a change, especially as I was doing them to take to Nijerk this year and then was unable to go.  Read all about it here and then sign up - it would be lovely to meet you all.

Just a note:  some of you read it wrongly last week - it is the GP Surgery that I have problems with, not the hospital.  Our hospital is pretty quick with responses to requests for appointments. It is not unusual to have to wait seven weeks for an appointment with a doctor at the surgery, even if the GP has requested it or a hospital test has shown up that a GP consultation is needed.

Jeudi Journal - Talking About

Wendy has chosen the themes and today it is "I'm pretty Sure You Don't Know What You're Talking About But Please Continue".

Again it is a brayer mop up page but at last, a change from greens, it is in oranges.  I tried putting some paint through a square stencil in orange but they hardly show up so I used some yellow which you can see if you look closely.  Then I used some stamps with an orange ink  to add more interest and also some bottle caps but this time in brown ink.  Oh, and my obligatory AAL & Create stamps which are words and the bunting across the top.

I am trying to portray the largest of the ladies uttering the quote whilst ignoring the other two just 'yakking' in the background with some of the AAL & Create words and some hand-written ones too.  

At the beginning I used the book landscape and chopped a bit from the bigger persons head to make it fit and then I tried it portrait style and ended up keeping it that way.  The smaller two figures are supposed to be standing a bit further back, hence them being smaller.

WOYWW 515

It's Wednesday again, time for bloggers to bare their desks and join in the longest running blog hunt in ages.  It is in its tenth year!  Why not join in - and even come along to the Crop, this year held in June - details on here.

Well, this is my desk for this Wednesday.

As you can see I have my journal out with a background page awaiting either more work and figures or just figures, depending on how I feel later on today.  To the right are some teabags that have been prepped in readiness for more work being done on them.  Another book maybe?  I could spend my whole day doing teabags, I am enjoying them so much.  I have one book of 19 teabags and a couple of cards ready but so much is inside my head

So leaving it there - that means Julia will be chuffed as she likes to keep it brief.  Maybe I will have a card to show you next time, about time you had something complete to look at - I did have two over this last week that I made but as usual, I did them last minute and forgot to scan them in.

Healthwise - my back is getting much better and I have managed to cut the medication down a little.  Each step is a step nearer to getting back to normal.  Trouble is getting an appointment with the GP is a bit of a nightmare.  Could not get one with my GP so settled for the Muskoskeletal guy and that is 43 days after the spinal x-ray.  Anyone else have this kind of problem?  Or is it just the north again?

Jeudi Journal - Totally 'Flexible

As "Long as Everything is Exactly the Way I want I'm Totally Flexible" is Wendy's choice for this week and I really did not know what to do.  I thought of the "pom pom girls" as I call them (the two on the left) because that meant I could build them up and bend them about on the balls with a 'twirl' for the base but then I saw the sitting figure (on the right) which I realised looked as if she was bending if I stood her up.  Looks a bit like me with my bad back LOL.

In the end I used all three figures.  Once again a brayer page that had some ink swiped over it and then a stencil used with a little blue paint.   I am determined to use my AAL & Create stamps as much as possible in my journals and so you can see two of Tracy's here on this page - one down the sides and the circles partially used in two opposite corners.

WOYWW 514

Another week, another Wednesday another WOYWW (how many "W's" is that?)  More to the point what is it - WOYWW is where we meet up each week to show our desks.  Why not join us?

My back must be feeling better as I have WIP on my desk.  Whey Hey, Zippity Doo Daa!

Won't go into how many days it has taken me to get to this stage but not always because of my bad back.  I just wish I had that lovely Antipodean Lady who used to do the most wonderful things with lace right here besides me.  Her name escapes me, as does her blog, but I have missed her, and so much of late when I wanted to do something with lace and things.

I finally found the box that had my lace in, went through it and sorted out some of the white and some of the cream lace into two piles and then cut bits off each.  Now I need to go through my box of trimmings and my metal bits too - all can be incorporated into the tea-bag cards/things I am making.

I want to make a book out of them as well as cards but haven't figured how to hold the pages together - got several ideas in my head but need to try them all out and just hope the sewing one does not come out on top or I need to take a couple of machines to the workshop and that could pose a problem.  Anyway, my desk today shows the two piles of lace pieces and the bits I have cut off from some of them.  In front to the left of the teabags you can see the book page I am working on (close up below).  

  

Here is the beginning of a tea-bag covered in lace with a picture in it.  No fear of my class seeing it as none of them ever go on my blog.

  

I did think of putting another layer of lace on the tea-bag but my head is saying "it could be fabric or card underneath if it is lace layered on lace - this is supposed to be a tea-bag - so let the tea-bag show through".  What do you think?

Art Journal journey - Still Having Fun

Here I am with page 2 for the Art Journal Journey challenge.  Had some fun doing this second page because outside the weather is terrible.  So cold again today, with a blustery biting wind which does not make you want to leave the house.  Perfect time for crafting.  What better images to cheer one up than using these ladies from Art Impressions yet again.  Oh what fun they seem to have and today they are being very energetic doing a spell of keeping fit and ballet.  Not sure they are rehearsing for Swan Lake as they don't appear very swan like.

Having done this page I got to thinking about a group of friends and how we used to have fun going to the various stamping shows.  One that stands out is Stempel Mekka in Germany which we attended for a few years.  I well remember one trip -  it absolutely poured down with rain and we all looked like drowned rats as we sat in the ice cream parlour sampling the various huge concoctions they made which were oh so delicious.  What fun we used to have on those trips.

Anyway enough reminiscing, here's to my second page

Art Journal Journey - Having Fun

This month it is Wendy's choice of "Having Fun" which is the theme at Art Journal Journey.  I had to do my pain diary again for another month and so that became the focus of my choice which is below.  What better fun is there than spending time with friends and what a wonderful time these ladies are having together.

Not sure I would want to get in the bath with a load of girlfriends but I think this is maybe a substitute for a hot tub, especially as they seem to be on the wine as well.  They are certainly enjoying themselves anyhow.

I have only managed to do one page at the moment and the other day I found an alphabet set of stamps which to me said "Fun" with a capital "F".  They became my choice for this page and when I used my Promarkers on them I really felt they were the ideal thing to use.  So here it is - my "Having Fun" page - now to get on with page 2

Jeudi Journal - I'm Never Wrong

Yet another ready painted background - think I must have gone a bit mental on green if you look back at this last month's entries.  (And guess what?  There's still another green page)  I did go over it with Peeled Paint in DI Oxides and then added some yellow before I gave the page a bit of a spritz.  Didn't like it so I put some Broken China through a square stencil but as I was still not happy I swiped some Gesso over the top with a baby wipe to 'dum' it down.

Decided I needed two figures and for some reason I felt I had to use the bigger ones in my collection so I set to and stamped some new ones out and spent a nice hour or so cutting out three sheets of figures, ie bodies, heads and other bits.  I then decided on which ones to use, without trying them on the page, and sat having a lovely time colouring them in.  It took me ages to cut the heads out (avoiding as much of the little insects crawling over them as possible) and colour them in but when it came to attaching them to the bodies on the page they were proving a little on the large side.  Anyway, with a little bit of careful manoeuvring with the standing figure just behind the other one I got them both on the page portrait style.

I must remember that this 'flip journal' is not quite the same as the large one I filled the first time.  Here you are - "To Save Time let's Assume I'm Never Wrong" - remind you of someone?

WOYWW 513

Another week, another Wednesday, another WOYWW over here.  Pop along and see what it is all about and join in if you can.  Make new friends and meet up if you live close enough to the next crop - well try to come along even if you live far away.

On my desk today you can see a background for a Journal Page.  Another one where I just went over a 'clean the brayer' page with an Oxide and then I used some of my AAL & Create images.  I just don't use them enough and so I am making an effort to get them used.  They are such lovely images and stamp so well too.

Not sure when the page will be used, just playing around.  To the right is a load of old junk!  To be precise, I was tidying another room up and came across lots of crafting stuff - some went in the bin, some went for giving away and this is what was saved.  Needless to say it has sat here for about 5 days now, waiting for the energy and drive to put it away where it should go.

Got my results through - all clear from the 'oscopies' and the CT scan which leaves us with the question why so anaemic?  Now waiting to see a gastroenterologist - in June!!  Got my spinal x-ray this afternoon.  So things are moving on the health front, not as quickly as I want but nevertheless moving.  Therefore crafting is coming on slowly but at least I am doing a bit more and I have a class coming up which I don't want to cancel if at all possible but prep must now take priority.  Watch this space.

Do hope you all are having a good week.  See you next week after I have checked out your blogs today.