617 WOYWW

Have had a bad week with spam comments.  I cannot believe how many I have had in a week - 401 to date since last Wednesday.  I have now found out how to delete them as a block but in the attempt to do this I hope I have not taken someone else out.  I have also reported it to Blogger but not heard anything as yet.  Anyone else having this problem or is it just me who has annoyed someone enough to do this to me? 

Anyway, to heck with Spam comments - isn't this weather gorgeous?  We actually went out yesterday, did not meet a soul so stayed well within our boundaries but look at this glorious fungi I saw

and a lonely spike of it

Well, you really came on here to see my desk but as it is perfectly clean and tidy I will show you how it was a short while ago when I was making a card.  This is my Misti (love my Misti) and the card is placed on it and look at how many magnets I have put on it!  And these are strong magnets.  Well when I lifted the stamp side up the bottom right magnet flipped underneath the card and the others all slid over to the left a bit.  That is just how strong and sticky the Aall & Create stamps are.  I know a lot of 'red rubber fans' do not like polymer but honestly these are such good quality as this proves, not at all flimsy.  

Anyway, here is the finished card.

The guy it is for is an ardent walker and so I wanted some boots for hbis card.  My lovely friend Cath sent me the boots and footprint images in black, in brown and embossed.  So I stamped and embossed the Aall & Create image and then put the boots on with sticky pads and another pair of boots and footprints on the inside to finish it off.  

My nieces little one has his third birthday coming up so I made him a card the same day.  Decided to do a K-card and then wished I hadn't started as there was so much in it, it was almost like making three cards in one with all the decorating - but he is worth it.

the cover above - and the inside below

The back shows a little boy (Theo) and his dog in the middle of a field with two little bumble bees holding a banner saying "Happy Birthday".  The aperture bit has birds in the sky, flowers and a bunny below (plus another little bird) and two cheeky chickens are hanging onto the sides of the oval aperture.  Took me ages cutting and colouring all these images.  What do I do when it is his big brother's birthday in August (he is featured on the cover going to the party)?

Should have been having my second jab today but as I got the message on the answer phone (we have only ever been out in a full year for medical appointments apart from Tuesday - honestly - Girl Guide's Honour) yesterday when we got back from our trip out, it was too late when I rang the doctors back.  Now I have to wait for the next batch!

So it's not been my week has it?  Not to worry, I can now go and visit my lovely friends on WO\YWW and see what kind of week they have had - why not join in with us - you get a real good old snoop into the bargain.  Click here and join in with us all.

A Single Flower

Just nipping in with another Journal Page for Art Journal Journey and Sheila's lovely challenge which finishes tomorrow - "A Single Flower".   I usually just post a journal page on a Thursday when I do my Dylusion Journal page but I wanted to do one a little bit different this time and so here it is - my Single Flower for Sheila:

I had a brayered page in my square journal and so I thought I would use one of my new Aall & Create stamps by Tracy Evans.  This is one of my favourite stamps from the new collection and I simply stamped it in black and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The butterfly was coloured with a blue Inktense pencil and then I stamped and cut another one out and attached it with the body only so that the wings stood up a little.

I coloured the hibiscus with Inktense pencils also and then cut it out and put that to one side of the circle stamps, painting two of the circles in a green shade.  Finally I added the word "Hibiscus" at the base of the page.

I really enjoyed making this page and wish there was more time to do more pages of single flowers.

Jeudi Journal - Walks

 I am afraid it is another background like the last ones have been - a simple reverse stencil technique.  My back has been so bad again this week that I have had to do something that did not involve painting or any kind of rubbing movement.  (I cannot even dust or polish these days, and that is not an excuse to get out of those jobs - ironing maybe ...)

Anyway, I am not here to moan and whinge about things but rather to show you my lagtest page which has the quote "I like long walks ...  away from people".  

" Chloe is just a little upset at the number of people not sticking to the rules for this  dreadful pandemic that has hit the country.  The government has asked people to socially distance and to wear face masks but there are such a lot of people who are not doing anything.  She loves to go for long walks in the countryside with her dogs 'Muffin'  and "Mopsy" and stay well away from the towns where her friends hang out at the local coffee shop.  They are not allowed inside so they stand around in crowds chattering away about the latest fashion and such girly things.

In fact it was only the other day that she and her two dogs had gone out for a walk, Muffin had been sniffing the flowers in the grass and she had laughed telling him he might get 'high' if he carried on.  Then she saw, in the distance, her friend Melanie, dressed up as if she was going somewhere special.  She wondered what the girls were doing and how many of them were off to wherever it was they were going.  "Ah well" she said to her two companions, "I like long walks ... away from people" and she carried on making her way home with her best friends, Muffin and Mopsy."

As happens most Thursdays I am entering this page into Art Journey Journal and the challenge, which this month is by Sheila and is "a single flower".  I just have the one flower on this page, the other die cuts are grasses and I do hope it is acceptable as an entry again.  

WOYWW 616

Another Wednesday, another meet up with friends, ie another WOYWW with Ms Julia (click here to find out all about it).  I must say that WOYWW and virtually meeting up with friends via blogland every Wednesday has kept me sane during lockdown.  Despite April 12th being a date we are all looking forward to in our diaries I think I will be depending on WOYWW to keep me sane for quite some time yet. 

Well, my mojo has been and gone out again.  She, or he, has left me once more and the crafting has been a bit thin on the ground.  However, some new stamps arrived the other day and I am hoping they will bring my mojo back to me. I have done a journal page using a couple but I can't show it to you as it is for a challenge and must not be introduced early.  So here is my desk with my journal page turned over:

My new stamps on the left (Aall & Create as per usual), my journal on a page I started years ago (memo to self "must finish pages") and a red Hibiscus I painted and cut out (clue to my page that you cannot see.). To the right of this section of my worktop is this

A page taken from my journal, a card I started to make for part of a workshop (since abandoned) and part of the  roll I once made, with some Tim Holtz fabric, for my small paint brushes.  At the back my baby wipes, the flex from my heat gun which is on my stand and an old cup that I like so use now for odd bits.

That's it for this week, stay safe everyone and have a good week.

Jeudi Journal - Kitchen

Once again I decided to do a reverse stencil technique on my journal page.  I wanted something quite light and in two colours to give the appearance of a room - walls and a floor.  I chose AALL & Create stencils in circles and squares, both designed by the lovely Autour de Mwa.  In order to have some kitchen appliances on show I used some of Janet Klein's stamped images by the same company.

Whilst trying to explain the quote, which is all about someone being under pressure, I still tried to bring in a "kitchen" element to it.  I just hope the story actually illustrates the quote, as well as the picture does, as I chose to be a bit more literal in my page.  Hope you enjoy it.

"Sophie and her friend, Gwen, had been to the Gym as usual.  They were both involved in a rigorous 'keep fit programme' but Sophie was not hacking it.  She was often at loggerheads with their trainer and several times had walked out in the middle of a training session.    Gwen felt that Sophie was not really interested in the keep fit side of the programme but rather had her eye on one of the boys who worked at the gym and that was the real reason why she went there.  Afterall, as Gwen often said to their other friends, "why on earth does she go for a workout with make-up on?  It only starts to run as you get yourself heated up."

This particular day Gwen was feeling out of sorts so when she called for Sophie to go to the Gym and saw that she was wearing a short dress, a jewelled hairpin and some really long lashes with a jewelled contraption on one of them, she kind of lost it.  [Gwen herself, was wearing one of her fancy hats with a veil coming over one eye but at least that would be left in the cloakroom, she had no intention of anyone seeing her like that at the Gym and she was meeting up with some more friends afterwards.]

"What on earth are you doing dressed up like that for a session at the Gym?"she asked Sophie.  "Nobody goes to a Gym with all that make-up on, it's obvious you are going because of all the young men there, and one in particular I think."

Sophie was quite surprised at the way her friend spoke.  She knew it was not the boys at the Gym she was interested in, she just did not like the exercise and only went because  Gwen wanted to and she was doing her a favour by going with her.  In all truth she did not need to lose any weight but her friend Gwen did but Sophie was too kind to say anything like that.  Instead she shouted out "I don't mind the heat ... it's the kitchen I can't stand."

As I wanted to enter this into Art Journal Journey again, and Sheila's brilliant challenge which is "a single flower" I chose a plant that had only leaves and drew in one single flower for it.  It's a super challenge and I am hoping that I will be able to do another page before the month is over, with maybe a larger flower than this one.

WOYWW 615 - Lotsa Cards - Grab a Cuppa

Well, it's a week since it was my birthday and what a lot of absolutely wonderful wishes I had plus some gorgeous handmade birthday cards along with some commercial ones.  It was a lovely day and I was in a bit of a daze all day, spending most of it sitting around and chatting on the 'phone and just being happy.  So I am pleased to say that there isn't much to see on my desk as I have lots of cards to show you that some kind people have made.  Grab a cuppa and join me.

Hope Julia (Queen of Deskers here) doesn't mind such a long post - she will probably not bother because of all the gorgeous inspiration in the cards.  Pop over to WOYWW to see what others have on show.

My desk first of all - just some tags I have made for various reasons, a lot of flower girls from a digi download and Marilyn cut out from a present I got from a friend.

and now to my beautiful birthday cards - ready?

Top to bottom: Cindee, Darnell, Jan, June, Lynne, Mags:

Victoria Stampers - Top to Bottom:  Anne, Christine, Dilys,  Jacqui, Lorraine, Sue, Val

and finally

KCUK - another group I am a member of - Top to Bottom: Carmel, Cath, Chris, Gill, Janet, Linda, Mo, Nicki, Renate, Wendy C, Wendy K

My lovely friend, Cath W (the one I did the four room card for the other week) sent me this beautiful concertina book (I had to scan it in two pieces, it was too long for the scanner bed) and she also cut out an "arch book" for me to decorate myself, where she had set me off with the front page.  Cath does the most marvellous backgrounds - I wish you could see them in real life, they are always stunning.

How do I follow that?

Jeudi Journal - Resentment

 Well, what a morning!  I realised, about 10 o'clock last night, that I had been swept along with the day and completely forgotten about my journal page for today.  Thank goodness I had a pre-painted page.  Last week I had been doing a workshop with a large A3 painted page, so with the leftover paint I did the same background but in my journal.  That is something I always intend to do but never quite make it.  That meant I just had to find the quote for this week and the figures.

When I saw the quote was "The secret ingredient is resentment" I was a bit floored as I immediately thought I needed a male and female figure and there is a shortage of male figures in the Dylusions range.  Looking through my figures I quickly realised it would have to be a cat and a dog if I wanted male and female and so I took them out ready.  I was so tired at this point (having been up since 6 am and having a busy day) that I knew I simply had to go to bed and do something the next day.

So here I am with "Ma and Pa have gone away for a much needed break.  After all the kids are grown up now and able to look after themselves at 18 and 19 years of age, with the exception of little Celia, but surely the two older ones could look after her for one night.  It was quite a big anniversary they were celebrating and the kids had actually paid for the night away for them.  A lovely gesture and one they could hardly refuse.

Well, no sooner had they left the home than Bert began asserting his authority as the eldest in the family.  He had the "grumps" on him that day because his favourite football team had just lost their match and it always got him in a bit of a mood.  So he decided he was going out with his mates to drown their sorrows at the local pub..  He came downstairs in his best gear, jacket nonchalantly slung across his shoulders, dicky bow at his neck.

Clarissa, his sister, was a little 'put out' at this and so she told him that it wouldn't hurt him to stay in the one night as had been arranged with Ma and Pa before they left.  Strong words ensued and it got quite heated between the two of them.  Poor little Celia was quite upset and hid behind her big sister's skirt, peeking out only when Bert had calmed down a bit and tried a peace offering of a single flower.  It didn't work because he had just plucked it from the vase in the lounge, a bouquet that Pa had bought Ma for their anniversary.  Typical big brother tactics.

But as Clarissa said to her younger sister "don't worry because the secret ingredient is resentment".

Thank goodness Pa bought Ma some flowers because I was able to use one in my story so that I could join in with Sheila's challenge over on Art Journal Journey.  See you there for lots more inspiration.

WOYWW 614 And Another Video (hopefully)

Here is my desk, all ready for WOYWW,  in all its glory - quite tidy as I haven't been up to much apart from painting and drooling over some of Tracy Scott's artwork.  I love her faces and am ready to sign up for another one before this one is finished.  Holding off for my birthday money to come from the other half but then there are two workshops I have my eye on.

It is all set for me to get going again on my Geisha Girl.  Paints, brushes and pencils but before I do I have to repair that little photo in the middle of the desk which my other half (Mr Clumsy) knocked off the cupboard and broke.  To say I have had this for over 30 years, if not 40 is no exaggeration - and now he breaks it.  Men!

Sadly no Geisha Girl as I had to take the middle lesson out and so have not had chance to catch up yet. Loved watching it and some people have had great results, not sure mine will be up to the standard of some of them. But I do have my first pencil sketch to show you - decided not to use this one as I thought she looked too young and I have not got the eyes right. It was only a practice piece which I cut out from the copy paper and stuck on the background to see how close I was to getting the size right - not used to working so big - it's on A3. The actual one is drawn directly on that background.

Made a tag for the group I am in (virtually at the moment) which is a bit tongue in cheek.  Discussing it with the friend who chooses the themes she asked if I thought "Spring" would be ok and I immediately started laughing - this is what I did.  Don't know if you can see it but it is a Dylusion figure with the head cut off and re-attached with a spring behind it.  So it wobbles when you touch it.  Well, it is a Spring!

Forgot to show you this card the other week, which actually spurred me on to do the garden scene in last week's book - the house.

This is another of my Miranda Books.  I call them that because I so wanted this die and my lovely friend in the Netherlands, Miranda Van den Bosch, sent it to me because I could not get it over here.  To me they will always be my Miranda Books.

Jeudi Journal - My Age

Sounds familiar?  "My Age Doesn't Bother Me - It's the Side Effects".  This is the quote for this week and I did it way ahead of time - well, Tuesday.  I decided to do something similar for the background to last week but this time to cover the page.  I used three different stencils and three different colours of ink.  Kept it to blues and violet as I like that combination - reminds me of a whinberry pie with cream on it, yum yum!

I decided to use two figures, two sisters, and here they are:

"Lottie and Leonie are two sisters who meet up each week to go shopping.  Lottie, the eldest of the two, has been having a heart to heart chat on the latest shopping spree with her younger sister.  In fact she shed one or two tears as she recalled some of the things that had been happening to her recently.   

As Lottie said, they should  make a leaflet telling you what to expect as you start reaching a certain age.  Her skin had started to dry out and she was having terrible problems with patches that were very dry.  None so bad as the ones on her heels, the skin was simply coming off in sheets.  Her eyesight was worsening too, threading a needle with cotton was a real problem and when stitching a button on she ended up with as many holes in her fingers as on the fabric because she kept on missing the holes.

The thing that worried her most of all was her memory, or lack of it.  That and the fact that she kept seeing things out of the corner of her eye.  Why, only a few moments ago she could have sworn that some of the flowers in the beds had faces on them - and arms and legs.  Were they fairies or what?  Was she losing her marbles?

Leonie sympathised with her, tried her best to calm her big sister down.  It seemed strange as it was always Lottie who had looked after her.  Perhaps now was the time for a role reversal, maybe now it was time for her to look after her big sister and the first thing was to get her to see the doctor."

Now this is so strange.  I wanted to link this up to Art Journal Journey and suddenly, once the page was finished and scanned in to my blog post I realised we were in a new month and there was a new challenge over there.  Not much room for adding anything so I was hoping it was colour related.  Imagine my joy when I saw that Sheila had chosen "a single flower" as the theme for this month.  I had three flowers and three flower girls by Janet Klein on the bottom of my page.  I had just downloaded the collage sheet of these tiny figures the night before and wanted to use them so had included them in my story,  so two of the flowers had to go - and go they did!  With a bit of picking here and there three became one so here is my entry for Art Journal Journey.  See you next week - with a Single Flower.

WOYWW 613 and a Video to Watch

Here we are again, these Wednesdays come around awfully quickly, but then so do Mondays and Tuesdays DOH!  At least Wednesday's are a nice change from the rest of the week because I get to see what all my friends are up to on their desks by checking in on WOYWW with Ms Julia, the Queen of Deskers.  Why not join in with us here and find out all about it?

I might be a bit late commenting today as I have a workshop this morning with Tracy Scott, painting a gorgeous Geisha Girl.  Well, the one Tracy did is absolutely gorgeous but I doubt mine will be.  Mind you I have to see if my materials arrive in time and, as I just found out, I do not have the necessary journal to do it in so I am starting off with a trial piece/practice piece on some spare journal paper.  I thought I had all things covered and then March arrived and I was thrown by it.  Don't worry though, I promise I will try to catch up with you all in the coming days.

I am using both sides of my L-shaped desk today - the side that I am showing to you is where I am doing some stamping and colouring in my square journal.  I recently treated myself to some of the A4 stamps from AALL & Create and have had this idea in my head for quite some time.

and a close up

The second photo shows you in more detail just what I have been stamping with the actual stamps on the left hand side.  I did the man (the ship is to go on his head) and the magnifying glass, both stamps are two I have longed for for ages.  Bought in a Pick and Mix so I got them at reduced prices.

At the very left of the first photo are my Felix boxes, painted, and one is filled with toilet roll inners.  I find that a great way to store some things - good for coloured pens or pencils as you can keep them in colour families.  Nothing else except dirty baby wipes from cleaning my stamps (yes, I DO clean my stamps religiously) and the pack of babywipes at the far right.  The other side of my desk (it is a letter L) is just set up ready for my class later this morning.

Yesterday I was busy doing a couple of videos and loading them up on my You Tube Channel.  I'll show you one of them as it should have been received by now but you will have to wait until next week for the other one,  Can't give you video overload,

Hope it works - Toodle Pip!